This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly. Bacon. Just bacon.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly. Bacon. Just bacon.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-17/science-literacy-falling-among-young-adults/4824232
“It found nearly 30 per cent did not know if humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs, and that 41 per cent did not know it took the Earth a year to travel around the sun.”
“Back in 2010 when people aged between 18 and 24 were asked the sun orbiting question, 73 per cent got it right.
But the most recent survey found that statistic had fallen to 62 per cent.”
…sigh…
Can we really be going backwards?
I just noticed that on the emergency plan posted on my door that in case of ire in the dorms, we are to muster at the shop building.
So far everyone seems friendly…
thatI’m supposed to muster in the parking lot by the bike trail…unless the prevailing winds require on of two other sites, depending on direction…
In Australia the word ‘muster’ is used mostly for livestock – as in ‘mustering the cattle’. So I am more confused now… In case of ire are you to go muster at the shop building, or are you to be mustered at the shop building like cattle?
And on a bacon related note: I don’t think you can muster pigs…
gobi’s:
Most people who’d know the answers would know them as factoids, the which hardly indicates scientific literacy, so the inference drawn from this exercise seems rather weak to me.
(How will a refrigerator with its door open affect the temperature of its environment?)
Too… hot…
… for… bacon…
*collapse!*
BACON.
*sigh*
I remember bacon.
Crispy strips of bacon.
A veritable bacon-stack of bacon.
With scrambled eggs on the side.
*sigh*
Stoopid gall bladder.
–
Yes.
Yes, we can.
–
Apropos, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who is irritated by newspapers’ (and similar mass media’s) labelling of trivia questions as “brain-busters”.
Ah, bacon. The Redhead’s BFF visited last night, and left most of a Turkey Club Sammich, while the Redhead left most of her take-out. My leftovers for tomorrow night…BACON…..
@ John Morales
My concern is the age group surveyed is not so long after leaving school. You would hope that the school system is teaching more than just factoids.
chigau-I think that’s a timely reminder for everyone to check and make sure that the batteries in their ire detectors are working and that everyone in the home knows what their household ire emergency plan is. My ire emergency plan involves cookies interspersed with yelling.
gobi’s, this is the internet generation.
If they really want to know something, they’ll Google it.
( http://xkcd.com/903/ )
Batteries fine. The emergency plan is for me grab and Fireman Carry the Redhead on the way out. Which door, with or without wheelchair, is all up to the situation….
My ire plan is to go hide in the shed until my daughter does something more egregious than my transgression.
Chilly
Good plan but you seem to have forgotten the bacon.
—
Alexandra #7
heretic
You know, I don’t miss bacon. I miss the experience I had with bacon back when I ate meat. A year or so ago I ordered something that came with bacon and I thought “What the hell? Might as well eat it.” and…. it just wasn’t the same.
@ John Morales
Which brings me back to the education system…
I had a good education and part of that was installing the curiosity to “want to know”.
The problem seems to be that they don’t want to know and couldn’t care less.
“I dunno… Whatever… Unnhh…”
Oops… Instilling not installing.
But very appropriate for the Internet generation. :)
Oggie, previous thread:
My bed is soft and cushiony and covered in sheets. Hopefully that answers your question?
Since 7/13, every time I try to access a Pharyngula page, McAfee Site Advisor has thrown up a screen reading:
This has not shown up at any other page, FtB or elsewhere.
A search on the siteadvisor.com site for Pharyngula produced:
I left a brief note about this at said page; no idea what, if anything, that does.
Does anyone else experience the same problem, or have an idea what triggers it?
Oh! This article is referring to Aussies. Whew! I’m sure us USians are much better informed. At least some of us know the sun isn’t a star and women who are legitimately raped won’t get pregnant.
I have now reached that glorious state whereby I am vaguely citrus-scented, steam is rising off of my reddened flesh, and I am nude except for a towel. ^_^
Pierce, I’ve had the same problem at work. What I can do is to go into private mode (IE 10), and everyday I need to enter my FtB login/pw. But that is a small price to pay for lurking & posting…
@Pierce R. Butler
Neither Norton nor Chrome are giving me any grief about Pharyngula.
gobi
1:44
The night of the Zimmerman verdict I headed to the main cross-street of my city and stood there alone holding a candle. After a few hours, around 12am I gave up and went home becuase the wind kept blowing out my candle and because people kept offering me things, assuming I was homeless and panhandling.
Walking home in the dark in a dark mood, after a couple of blocks I passed a spilled bag of Skittles on the sidewalk.
Pierce @ 21
I’m experiencing the same thing. All of FTB is showing as gray, rather than green, and Pharyngula has a red warning sign, where it used to be green.
The DH, who knows a lot about computer security, did a thorough scan of my laptop and found that it had no “infections”.
Our theory is that someone who hates FTB, and PZ in particular has reported the site, sort of like a denial of service. I suppose that it might scare away folks who are new to FTB or who stumble upon the site. I’m just ignoring the red sign, and DH is checking our computers more often.
Chilly:
Oo, I like your style!
Chigau:
It’s 10 o’clock at night and it’s still 90° outside. I’m willing to accept the “heretic” label if it means that my underboobs aren’t sweating any more than they have to.
Jafafa Hots
*hugs*
@FossilFishy
“The content provider has not made this video avalable on mobiles”
:(. Talking Heads denied!
Jafafa hots
*hugs*
Alexandra
I sympathize, although it’s a couple degrees cooler where I am.
WTF is it with underboobs and sweating? It is seriously annoying.
Alexandra
I’m trying to think of a way for bacon to relieve your distress…
Esteleth:
Seems like our design is flawed, eh?
chigau:
If that’s an offer to bring me some bacon ice cream, I wouldn’t say no… .
Feel better now… I could play this one:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xljanm_ted-talk-david-byrne-sings-nothing-but-flowers_music#.UeX85ssayK0
David Byrne sings “(Nothing But) Flowers”
David Byrne and Thomas Dolby! :)
I don’t get to start engineering school this fall. There’s not enough bacon in the whole world.
Ijoe
Shit, that sucks. I’m sorry to hear it. *hugs*
Ugh. Hot here too.
31 with a dewpoint of 22.
I want to live somewhere less continental. Horrible even without the underboob problem.
iJoe: *hugs*
I’m sorry.
–
Thanks Dalillama and cicely.
I fucked up. When my wife got fired and I quit school a couple of years ago, I took a failing grade on three classes. My new school won’t let me retake them unless I pay for them out of pocket, $3000 or so. They’re glad to have me attend school otherwise… for what little that’s worth. I don’t have any real idea what I’m going to do next.
boskerbonzer @ # 25: Neither Norton nor Chrome are giving me any grief about Pharyngula.
Do you use SiteAdvisor?
I experience the same warning with either Firefox or Safari (Mac versions). The clickthrough button works and no other problems arise (so far), but the discrepancy between the warning and the info page.
magistramarla @ # 28 – At first I suspected an anti-atheist behind the scenes at McAfee, but in that case they would have flagged the site with their “profanity” or suchlike label, instead of claiming “no info”. And I can get through to friendlyatheist and atheists.org without a twitch.
Perhaps this is the first move by the International Feline Conspiracy – if so, the next attack will come soon…
The SO’s prostate surgery went well.
Shit Joe, that sucks. I’m so sorry.
Thanks FossilFishy… it is some real bullshit.
*more hugs* for iJoe.
–
Nononononono! It’s the Damned Horses!
*muttering*
Nobody listens, nobody cares….
–
Huzzah!
–
Ijoe
I can’t offer specific advice, since I don’t know the university in question, but are any of the courses ones that are offered at a nearby community college? The prices are usually significantly lower, and there are are usually credit transfers that can be arranged with universities. Also, I’ll be happy to look into scholarships or grants you might qualify for that would help to defray the costs, although I can’t make any promises on that front.
I use Firefox with AVG. No warnings.
@Improbably Joe: there are plenty of free online classes. If worst comes to worst you have a year to audit engineering. At MIT, for instance.
Am I missing something, or are those numbers screwy?
100 – 73 = 27% wrong
100 – 62 = 38% wrong
Where does the 41% fit in?
I know it’ll be no consolation Joe, but I have around three times that number of failed courses on my record.
The evidence seems to show, that despite the pessimistic face I walk around behind I have a deep core of unquenchable optimism. I never once dropped a course. Not when I got mono and lost a month of classes. Not when my depression got so bad that I had to be medicated. Not even when the deadline to drop a course loomed and I hadn’t yet done any of the work. For some reason I always thought I could pull it off.
I sometimes wonder about this contradiction in me: Cognitive dissonance or just plain stupidity?
F***** if I know.
@Improbably Joe: I don’t know much about how things work in the US, but have you considered picking up similar courses and cross – crediting? Or is this forbidden?
Kagato, did you notice the 41% wrong figure refers to Australians in general, and that the 62% figure refers to people aged between 18 and 24?
—
You know what I find annoying? That these journalistic news pieces don’t link to the actual surveys.
Well. Fuck.
–
I’m going to try the community college route… I don’t know how I can pay for it, and I wish the university had told me a month ago, rather than admitting me to a program that they won’t actually admit me to.
@Pierce R. Butler
No to the SiteAdvisor, but I use something similar from Norton called Site Safety and it finds no computer, identity or annoyance threats of any kind for this site. Also, every once in awhile Chrome will throw up a warning for sites suspected of malware or phishing, but not a peep from it either.
If it continues, sacrifice a mouse and leave it on your keyboard overnight. If it’s gone in the morning you should be good to go.
So, I mentioned it on another thread. Today was the day we put my dog to sleep. I’d had her for 10 years & she was 14&1/2. As a husky, the average life expectancy was 12 or so. She was terribly ill & in intensive care for a week 3 years ago. Every day since then has been a gift (a very expensive gift, though thoroughly worth it).
There were lots of problems, but none of them too severe. Things like hip problems and nerve problems. Some days b/c of it she could barely move forward and turned only to the right. Yet she always found a way to keep up with me on the way to the food bowl (though that’s not much of a feat, with a gimp like me it still was more than I expected on her bad days). I would have let her stay on for however long she could manage. Partner worked as a vet tech when a teenager. It was only 4 years and was 20 years ago, but she knows a lot. She thought doggie was suffering. There were other reasons to make it today. I didn’t want her to suffer helplessly just for my benefit, but I would have kept her around longer without Ms Crip Dyke’s much more informed opinion.
But we go, and though she has only ever in her life resisted going on walks during hte last few weeks, when I get her out of the house she enjoys them. She tires after a couple blocks, but she enjoys them. So a couple blocks later we arrive at the vet. She wanders until they are ready. When it’s time she won’t let them work on her. They muzzle her so that they could hold her safely by her head, but it’s not working. She won’t hold still. So I hold her, and she calms. She still resists when the needle comes out, but dramatically less. Because I’m holding her. She trusted me and failed to fight the ones who killed her because of it.
I know she was sick and old and in pain, but when they tried to put a needle in her arm, she fought…until me.
I brought her back from death. I read to her every day in ICU 3 years ago – Harry Potter – because she’s a husky and huskies are vocal – they like to make talky noises and they feel most connected to you when you talk to them. But I couldn’t think of what to say. So I read out loud and got all the way to Norbert and Hagrid’s spill of the name Nicholas Flamel in 5 days. I fed her by hand, the sloppiest, stinkiest food while her pancreas recovered. She ate her first food after surgery only after 72 hours, and only from my hand. When she was in those scary vet-places, I was the one who made it safe, who loved her, who paid her attention. She had good reason to trust me.
But I wasn’t sure it was time for her to go, and I made her stop fighting. It may very well have been the right time. I can’t know how much she was suffering and how much joy she still got from our time together – from her life. But I can’t know. And I wasn’t sure. And she wanted them the fuck away from her. She didn’t trust them at all. And I made her stop fighting long enough for them to push the poison into her vein.
I just feel like I sabotaged every good thing I ever did with and for her. I feel I failed to respect her autonomy. I feel like I built up that trust over years only to misuse it when it mattered most: when she was resisting death.
I honestly don’t know if I can ever look myself in the mirror again.
Oh Crip Dyke. I’m so sorry.
We make these decisions because we must. They cannot tell us with any certainty what their wishes are so all we can do is guess. Even if you made the wrong choice, and I don’t see that you did, not for a certainty anyway, the love, the doggy joy you brought her was real. It cannot be negated, it cannot be undone. Times arrow can wound us, but it also means that we cannot undo the good we’ve done anymore than we can undue the bad. A faint and fragile sentiment that in the face of your loss I know. It’s all I have to offer beyond virtual hugs.
Aaaand that would be the something I was missing. Thanks.
Crip Dyke,
I’m crying my fucking eyes out for you and your girl. I’ve been where you are, and I know the pain you’re feeling. I’ve lost a lot of furry family members, and it is never easy. It is even worse when you have to make the call and help them let go of their pain. There’s never going to be a “right” time… it will always be too soon or too late, and there’s nothing we can do about it. The best we can ever do is make it as painless as we can, and comfort our kids the best we can.
You did that for her. You made her life as good as you could for as long as you could, and then you did what you could to ease her way on and keep her from being too scared and nervous to accept what peace you could give her. I know it is horrible… I feel horrible for you both, and for the sake of my own who I can’t bear to imagine losing. You didn’t do anything wrong. You did the best you could, and at the end you took away her stress and worry, and carried that burden for her so she could end things in peace. But she’s gone now, and you can put that burden down.
I know you love your dog. I know because I love my dog and my cats, and I’ll be devastated when they’re gone. Let go of that burden, and keep loving her and mourning her without any guilt. You didn’t do anything wrong.
Oh Crip Dyke,
I have tears in my eyes after reading your post.
A few years ago, we lost three beloved cats in a matter of a few months. One was 19, and passed on “naturally”, but I think that he was in terrible pain before that. The other two were 18, and we had to make the decision to let them go. Like you, I felt so guilty about that.
I will miss them forever.
We now have two cats and my mobility dog – all of them around six years old.
I look at my big guy (112 pound German Shepherd) and I wonder how I will ever get along without him when his time comes. He and I depend upon each other so much!
Our fur babies are the best things in our lives.
My heart goes out to you, my dear.
Crip Dyke, I have much sympathy for you, for I’ve been there and done that.
It’s natural for you to wish to punish and second-guess yourself, but I know you well enough that I think that you did what you had to do, and that it took courage to do it.
Yes, it’s harrowing, and the pain will linger.
(It’s alright to cry a lot. I did, for days, and this brings the memory back)
Even more disturbing: 59% didn’t know that a year isn’t a consistent measurement of time!
The correct answer, for the record is: it varies considerably.
Crip Dyke, you’d earned her trust by doing the right thing so many times. She trusted you to do the right thing. Now have confidence in her trust. You did the right thing. You took her pain. Now let it go. Let her rest.
Crip Dyke
I’m so sorry. I know how much it hurts when you have to make that decision. *hugs* and sympathies
Pierce @22:
I have not gotten that, but do occasionally get “you do not have authorization to access” when I am just trying to enter FtB.
****
John:
I thought the point being made by gobi’s sockpuppet is that fundamental science knowledge is not being retained (if it is taught at all). Perhaps I am wrong, but knowing that the Earth orbits the sun and one full revoluton takes a year is pretty darned basic science.
****
Joe:
Sorry to hear about school. Next year maybe?
****
Just found out today that repairs to my car will be a minimum of $5500, with more likely to come since they cannot inspect more of the interior unless they take it apart.
And this $40 a cab ride each way to work, 5 days a week is preventing me from saving anything.
Fuck.
Crip Dyke:
I am so very, very sorry for your loss.
It is rough choosing to put down a beloved pet, even moreso if you are there when they pass. I am crying my eyes out right now and wish I could take some of your pain away, bc I know it can be unbearable sometimes.
My utmost sympathies.
Tony
Ouch. I don’t think I know anyone who paid more than about a fifth of that to even buy their car (although admittedly, the people I know with cars tend to drive some pretty godawful old clunkers).
Recently, The Hub stopped showing G1 Transformers and GI Joe at 4:00 AM< which disappointed me, as it was a nice bit of nostalgia when I couldn't sleep. One episode of Transformers even had a refreshingly skeptical view of religion: The God Gambit. The plot concerns a race of primitive aliens who worship “the Sky God,” an idol which looks coincidentally similar to a Transformer. From the start, it’s revealed that the whole thing is bunk, just a means to oppress and control the masses. while an explicit atheist leading a revolt against them is portrayed as being completely in the right. It’s all too rare for children’s programming to show skeptics as anything other than stubborn jerks who refuse to accept that the things they’re seeing are real no matter how obvious it is, and that it’s always best to just BELIEEEEEEVE, for fear of offending believers in woo.
*headbonks* for CripDyke
Going to try a new direction in dealing with my broken brain. Recent re-diagnosis would indicate that I only have depression rather than bi-polar disorder, which might be why mood levelers don’t seem to work for meTomorrow, I’m going to see my GP about getting on some anti-depression meds and see if that improves things for me.
Akira MacKenzie: Anecdotally, they might even be making it worse. I was misdiagnosed with cyclothymia and was on neurontin for years, off-label (took myself off it with no ill effects once I found out about the lack of evidence for its efficacy and evidence of misconduct); at one point I tried switching it to an actual mood stabilizer, and it basically turned me into a zombie.
Oh for FFS! State to use homoeopathic drug to prevent malaria (in India):
Found via Bad Science, where they also take apart the “study” (PDF) behind this disaster.
HA! Crocoduck mention in the latest Oglaf. And I swear the Owlbear sounds just like Jeff from Coupling
.
My sympathies, Crip Dyke. You chose the better of two shitty options. She didn’t feel any kind of betrayal, she simply felt you there, like you’ve always been, helping her when she needed you. I hope I have those who mean the most to me near when it’s my time. Hell, I hope I’m lucky enough to have someone around to even care. Absolve yourself, grieve, and find a new pup or something. There’s a lot of critters out there that need love and devotion like that you clearly exhibit.
Oh good, I can plus something related to PZ’s part of the world: http://missionviejo.patch.com/groups/opinion/p/the-accidental-whaaaat
Or I can rant about the anti-vaccers: http://www.themindisaterriblething.com/2013/07/bimbo-alert.html
So sorry, Crip Dyke!!! *hugs*
Hooray for successful SO surgery, chigau!
That’s crappy news from the university, Improbable Joe, and I hope you get the courses done through a community college. I’m looking forward to meeting Engineer Joe one day. ;)
+++
Yes, this site engages in very risky business. I have even been known to read subversive articles from time to time, which talk about Science, like it’s actually something Real, and not a product of social and cultural paradigms.
Actually, it’s a failed invasion.
Thanks rq and Tony… I’m not sure what my next step is. I do wish I’d gotten more than a form admission letter all those weeks ago.
You built up that trust over years because she learned you were trustworthy. Because you demonstrated it to her.
And this is what that was for, and this is the moment it mattered. And you did her proud. You steadied her to face what we all must, with your love and your strength.
CripDyke, I can tell you that there is no way out from here without second-guessing yourself and your actions and decisions. This is how it works. The dog passes, her human grieves and examines every decision, every choice. Seven years on and I still second-guess my decisions with Zeke, my consultation with him and my delaying that final phone call.
You are supposed to wonder if you did things wrong. That doubt is a sign that you probably didn’t.
And that almost certainly won’t help.
Please, though, be kind to yourself. Honor her that way: you’re the strongest link you still have to her.
Crip Dyke,
Just to add my sympathies. I had the same decision to make a few weeks ago, and I feel the same kind of guilt, though I think less acutely than you.
You know what they serve in prison? Salt-free bacon. So be good.
I like how I typed ‘strata recipe’ into thestar.com’s search engine, and this rather unrelated article came up…
And actually, that little link under CLICK HERE at the bottom of that article is pretty darn interesting stuff about raw data from Arctic Ocean basemaps. (That’s my poorly structured and somewhat incorrect summary.)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23338279
.
.
.
.
Crip Dyke, I’m so very sorry. We were several days later than we should have been with that awful decision, a good few years ago now, because we weren’t sure and couldn’t quite bring ourselves to do it, and I still regret that. I’m really, really sorry it was so bad, but you had expert/experienced advice from someone who cares both for you and for her – it was the right thing to do, and you were there for her, with her, holding her and making it easier for her. She calmed down for you – which proves that she was feeling less stressed, thanks to you.
All my sympathies and all the {{{hugs}}}.
.
Ow, iJoe, that is so shitty. They should have that kind of information available from the start, even before people apply – what kind of administration fails to disclose detailed admissions criteria? Argh. I’m so sorry, and I hope there could be a way round it (I know less than nothing about the system, but I’m hoping what people said above about making up the missing courses elsewhere might be a viable option?).
.
Tony, my sympathies :-(((. Argh for car repairs, and money generally. :-((((
Some will enjoy this: Epic tea time with Alan Rickman.
iJoe – is this just what the admissions office told you? Many colleges have an appeals committee for grades that you can petition to in order to ask that certain grades be eliminated from your GPA calculation, which is what it looks like might be the problem for admittance to that program. Those committees are usually independent of any departments, so they can’t grant you acceptance into the program, but can fix the problem of those particular grades. Worth an inquiry, at least. You’d have to take those classes eventually if they’re part of your program requirements, but if it’s just the Fs in the calculation that are hurting you, you may be able to get them taken out of the calculation if you had extenuating circumstances.
I’m so sorry, Crip Dyke. Our vet told us that the owners bear the worst responsibility when it comes to making that decision, but that taking on that burden of having made it, of letting the pet stop suffering, is one of the most important gifts we can give them because they can’t do it for themselves.
Tony, big hugs. :(
Joe – another possibility is that you meet the admissions requirement GPA for the college, but the program itself has a higher GPA required. If that’s the case, you may be able to come in as undeclared major and then apply to the program later after your GPA is up. Or, you may be able to ask for provisional acceptance into the program (which might be needed if some of the classes you need are restricted to majors), or just to have one of their advisors so they can keep track of your progress to applying into the program a semester or two from now. One thing I’ve learned from working at a college is never accept a blanket statement from an office as the final word, especially if they’re just giving you a first pass response per policy.
Joe – basically, check the student handbook (it should be linked on their website somewhere). It should list all procedures for requesting such things and how to go about it. If you called the admissions or registrar’s office they might be able to help, but also might not know all the possibilities.
carlie @85
All that’s missing is the reading from the phonebook, but the epic music more than made up for it. :D Thanks!
rq – don’t miss the comments; read the first few, then go to the sidebar link for it in real time and read those first few comments. Cute.
I haven’t followed the lounge for a while, so I don’t know whether this is old news, but here you go anyway: Meat soap! For when you want to smell of bacon! You’re welcome.
carlie
Haha, nice! :)
Eee, I can’t wait to get home and take a look at the video.
I don’t miss bacon.
Even if the unlikely happens and I drop my vegetarianism, I’ll likely never eat bacon again. Piggies are too smart for me to eat.
I’ve linked to this before, but it is very apposite!
Hi folks
Crip Dyke
Big fat hugs
You didn’t betray her. You made that decision for her, because she couldn’t. And you chose to take the pain on you instead of having her to take it.
Joe
Hugs to you, too
Crip Dyke:
No, you did not betray her trust. You helped her. You eased her pain. You showed your love, caring and compassion. Hugs.
*hugs* and sympathy to Crip Dyke, Joe, Tony and anyone else with problems or sads who I might have missed in rereading the thread
‘rupt
Major hugs for Crip Dyke. I’m so sorry for all the pain and grief you’re feeling.
I had a sweet, loving Samoyed who got me through my parents’ divorce. She was put down without my knowledge while I was at college. Oof. Heartbreak. I’m so sorry.
*hugs*
Dear Crip Dyke,
I’m so sorry for your loss. Others have said it better, but you sound like the best of guardians. Such a hard decision, and you weighed it not lightly. My condolences.
Crip Dyke:
I’m so sorry to hear about your husky. I know how hard that had to be. I went through that with my Labrador. Look at yourself in the mirror and see the kind of wonderful person who would sit up with a frightened husky at the vet and hand feed her. She was lucky to have you as a parent.
http://www.thejournal.ie/poll-how-will-you-vote-on-gay-marriage-997136-Jul2013/ A poll to crash, it looks like the iona institute has already been at work distorting this one.
Crip Dyke -You and Chris Clarke have me wiping tears away. I’m so sorry for your loss. As many others have said, I know what its like to make that hard decision. Its so very difficult to know exactly when the right time is to step in and help take away your pet’s pain. That they can’t tell you how they are doing just sucks. Second guessing comes with the territory of such a difficult and painful decision.You did real good in being there and offering your dog the best and most loving option. Her love and trust in you made the world a more beautiful place and I think you honoured that with your willingness to take on the burden of ending her life.
I just stumbled upon something that made me a little uneasy – a film about the Wikileaks scandle is being released called The Fifth Estate.
Obviously I havn’t seen the film, and so cannot speak to its treatment of the subject matter, but the trailer that I linked to above seems to imply that the film offers a lot of coverage of the leaks themselves, with what at times appears to be an almost reverential attitiude toward Assange, as played by Benedict Cumberbatch, for his role in exposing the perfidy of the US military and government along with that of its allies, and yet it seems to largely avoid the issue of the rape allegations against Assange. There are however, references to a p[lan by the nUS administration to smear Assange – the term used is an intent to ‘crush’ him. Here is hoping that we aren’t going to see a cinematic hatchet-job done on the women who accuse Assange of rape by means of the film implying that it was all some evil conspiracy by the American government to discredit Assange, as many of his supporters assert.
Perhaps I am just being paranoid, but given how deeply entrenched misogyny is within the Hollywood studio culture, such an outcome would not really come as much of a surprise.
———————————————————————————————————————-
I would like to add my condolences to Crip Dyke. I understand the feeling of second guessing your decision to end the suffering of a much loved pet, but you did what you had to do. There is the issue of the pet’s quality of life to consider. You had to make the agonising decision of determining when the level of pain and incapacity being endured outweighed the value of trying to extend life, and you made the right call, as hard as it may be to see that right now.
Bacon…
Proof there is no benevolent god. Only a capricious, cruel and evil god would create something like bacon that tastes SO good, yet is SO bad for you.
*hugs* and sympathy for Crip Dyke. I’m sorry to hear about your dog.
Sometimes, all available decisions are just various shades of Suck, and there is no good answer.
–
Tony: Ouch!
*hugs*
–
@Crip Dyke:
*many hugs*
@Gregory:
I wouldn’t be surprised.
*so many hugs for Crip Dyke and iJoe*
*hooray for vaguely citrus-scented Esteleth…?*
Use Teh Gugel, and if that doesn’t clear it up, ask the vet.
Against: 45 % (1577)
In favour: 45 % (1571)
Undecided: 8 % (287)
I’ve had a few hours and some sleep.
I’m feeling somewhat better now, and your words are no small part of that.
I have to cook for the littles, and Ms Crip Dyke’s parent’s are in town, so I have to find them coffee in a tea household, but I wanted to take the time to thank everyone and let you know I’m no longer in complete collapse. Probably a better response later, but with the kids’ grandparents in town, time will be scant.
I hope that you can find some comfort in family time. *hugs*
I need more coffee myself.
We are continuing the war on fleas. We shampooed our 30-pound cat, Dust, two nights ago and pulled about 100 fleas off of him. All carpets and cloth are removed from the kitchen — he is confined there until we have the fleas beaten back. I keep walking through the house slowly, taking a step and waiting for the feel of a flea on my ankle, and then spraying the area if there is even one.
Dust seems depressed. Since Oreo died, he has spent a great deal of time trying to hide. Even ignoring his food. He is starting to come out of it. Not sure how much is from not having a second cat around and how much of it is the fucking heat.
Hello, what’s this?
Ogvorbis:
My battle is continuing as well. I just combed 25-30 of those fuckers of my lab mix, Krystal and a few off the cats. Our house is an older home, with full carpeting throughout, so pulling it up is no easy feat. Plus we are just renters.
Oh, and you feel them on your legs? I have scan my ankles and feet before bed every night.
Donate.
*hugs* for Crip Dyke. (BTW, plz check your email!)
iJoe, I’m going to second what Carlie said, as well as the suggestions re: community colleges.
Jacob:
I keep getting a 404-page not found message when clicking on the ‘hello world’ link. Oh well, I am sure the full blog will be up shortly.
Tony,
My home is 1940’s, however, I think it was fully carpeted in the 70’s. It had kitchen carpet when we moved in. Kitchen carpet. So gross! Every time anything spilled (and immediately disappeared into the orange and brown print) we would be like “Carpet in the kitchen!”. When we finally tore it out the ants were terribly offended.
–
Next to go will be the living room carpet, but the hardwood underneath needs re-finished, which will take time and money. So, it may be a while.
–
tl;dr
I sympathize with carpet and creature woes.
“Kitchen carpet”. Them’s cussin’ words. So’s “bathroom carpet”; overflow the toilet just one time, and see if you don’t agree.
–
Jafafa Hot # 27, I have been involved in the threads about the Martin murder, but it is rather disappointing how many Zimmerman defenders there are. I gave the following comment which no one seemed to care about:
“A little history. Between 1882 and 1930, at least 250 blacks were lynched in Florida. Amazingly in 1899, two were lynched for having “aided in lynching”. How do you figure that one out?
Most were accused of heinous crimes, but between accusation and guilt there is a big step.
One accusation was “in company of a white woman”. Another for “giving evidence”. Yet another for “refused information”. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Several accusations are “unknown”, one even “no offense”, and a black woman lynched by “mistaken identity” and a man for “race hatred”. Another one hard to figure. A couple were accused of “moonshining”, as if no good ole boy rednecks didn’t moonshine.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fltttp/lynchings.htm
Thanks Florida for legalizing lynching, which wasn’t even the case when the above events happened.”
_____
As to the earth, dinosaurs, and humans, I, an old retired geezer, learned about those things in primary school. I am astonished that schools are now that bad.
______
As to software problems. I use the free versions of AVG and ZoneAlarm and don’t have any problems. Sometimes though Thunderbird decides to classify something as Junk though I have received dozens of messages from the site before. Also that last few upgrades on Firefox suck. Several sites are no longer displayed correctly, like patheos and Youtube.
@David –
Did you see my reply to you in the Younge thread?
=======
While I appreciate everyone’s thoughts, I wanted to give a shout to a couple that were most helpful to my idiosyncratic brain:
Menyambal
WMDkitty:
*headbonks*
Chris Clark:
I don’t know if these are the wisest or most insightful or most beautiful or whatever. The love each of you put in to your thoughts to me is absolutely equally valid and valuable. But I wanted you 3 to know that these are words I’ll come back to. Even if it’s not for any intrinsic value and it’s all just unique to weird ol’ me, I wanted you to have some extra thanks for effectiveness, regardless of equal effort.
=========
I also want to reflect back sympathy to everyone else who has faced this. I have literally never had to do it before – at age 40, wow, how did I avoid it? – and right now I’m shuddering with the thought of having to do it twice in quick succession, as with magistramarla.
My thoughts are a mess, and not very individualized, but I send out general sympathy.
==========
As for iJoe –
my early academic record was a mess, for reasons traceable to individual weakness, disability, abuse history, whatever. When I went back to school on my own terms, I put together a record that made one of the best law schools in the world want me.
I can’t say you will do it. I can’t say it will be easy. But I can say that you can do it, and that if the costs are worth it to you, I expect to see things with your name on the plaque someday.
Oh, and btw:
Is there a better name for an engineering firm than
Now **that’s** a firm I would support.
Is that the firm of Messrs. F. Gehry and F. L. Wright?
Reading the Gary Younge thread, I am appalled at that racist troll. Is there any way that PZ/Chris could be alerted? He doesn’t seem to have added anything to the conversation other than bilge…
You can always email me with specifics.
One problem is that right now I’m inundated with fucking racist email — that Zimmerman acquittal has really emboldened a lot of assholes.
Can you pass a test for five year olds? (One question requires audio (sound).)
Some vin suitable for a mildly deranged pengion, French police investigate suspected bomb attack by militant winegrowers: It’s LOUD!
Esteleth:
Ae you referring to the latest racist (guyincognito)? We had our share in that thread. What kills me are the people who refer to Martins ‘suspicious activity’. They may as well have white pointy sheets as their gravatar (which Chris mentioned which great wit)
Which=with
Sigh
cicely @117:
Howzabout just carpet in general…
I am as smart as a smart (or lucky) 5 year old!
:)
–
Tony @128:
As far as carpet in general, it depends on the carpet, and the circumstances. But to deliberately carpet the two rooms where unpleasant consequences are inevitable takes a speshul kinda stoopid.
Now, in my house I’m inclined to say that the presence of wall-to-wall carpeting is unfortunate…because the cats are fully qualified to hork up hairballs, and just generally barf, on the carpet in any room in the house, without fear or favor.
–
Hey folks- I’m here to rant a bit to people who will understand.
My 14 yr old grandson is taking his health class online this summer, and I’ve been designated the adult to help him with it. I’ve just finished pre-reading the sex-ed chapter and I’m ANGRY!
This is Texas, so the whole thing is abstinence-focused.
There are several pages with scary descriptions of STDs.
There are several pages talking about abstinence and how to say NO in several ways.
There is a two-page description of a healthy pregnancy.
There is a two-page discussion of sexual harassment, with a scary description of punishments for statutory rape.
There is a very brief, less than one page description of contraception, and one has to click to download it – it isn’t even part of the regular text of the course. Mostly, this discussion emphasizes how often contraception doesn’t work.
And, here’s a quote directly from the text – “Contrary to popular belief inspired by our culture, there is no such thing as safe sex”.
Grrr – this is why we have so many teen pregnancies and kids who don’t understand how to avoid them or STDs. It simply doesn’t make sense to me to just scare the kids with details about all of this and then to not give them honest solutions, knowing that just telling them to abstain is NOT working.
Right now, the grandson is napping after swim practice, but when he wakes up, we’re going to read that unit, and then I’m going to give him some useful information about contraception.
I’m also going to inform him of something that the book leaves out – that sex can be fun and for recreation. The book just makes it all sound so grim – that pisses me off!
Rant done – I’m off to do some research for useful sites.
PZ:
Yeah. And just when I was starting to frequent Pharyngula a bit more.
I am sofa king tired. Physically, mentally, and emotionally drained.
magistramarla,
There’s a fight over health education in my country right now too. A fairly good program was pushed by the health minister, but it failed thanks to the Catholics. After a public debate, something that will “promote natural ways of avoiding pregnancy” and won’t “describe homosexuality as an affirmative thing” has been reported to have passed.
In today’s news: a teenage girl suffocated her newborn, mother who claims to not have known about the pregnancy took her too the emergency room because the girl was bleeding heavily after giving birth by herself.
Who needs health education?
magistramarla:
Sounds like your grandson is fortunate to have your help at an important time in his life.
At a guess, there is probably no mention of consent ?
Beatrice,
I’m not sure in which country you are, but I just found a great series that is produced in Britain, called The Sex Education show. It looks like it is a lot more frank with the kids than anything here in the US.
I also found a good site called Teen’s Health that I’m going to steer him toward.
Tony – Thanks for reminding me of that. Of course, his text doesn’t mention it. I will.
Grandpa has a biology degree, so I’m sure that he will also be a willing resource, if our grandson feels more comfortable talking to him. His step-dad is a child psychologist, and he and my daughter have already “added” to his middle school health class. The only people who won’t talk frankly to him are his Dad and step-mom (who is a nurse, but is a fundi!) Kids in our family get told the truth and learn to be much more tolerant of others than the kids around them.
@magistramarla:
At least they touch on sexual harrassment…
What’s not to like? Big-nose-horn-face, Nasutoceratops titusi. Nice.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56603694-78/museum-utah-nasutoceratops-loewen.html.csp
Update: my McAfee SiteAdvisor problem with anything Pharyngulish has quietly disappeared. Maybe my query to siteadvisor.com did some good?
However, my landline voicephone no longer works (no dial tone, just white noise). I count that as further evidence for the International Feline Conspiracy hypothesis (if they were happy, my voiceline would purr).
Also, now I get an “ABE denial” when trying to load any pages from FtB’s Butterlies and Wheels. I wonder if this would go away if Ophelia B were to post a cute-kitty pic or two…
magistramarla,
It’s great that you’re looking for educational materials for your grandson. He’s lucky to have you..
Moment of Mormon Madness, political category:
Salt Lake Tribune link.
From Mr. Osmond’s biography: Aaron Osmond was born and raised in Provo, Utah. He served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Rome, Italy. He received a B.S. in Business Management from the University of Phoenix…
Osmond is a member of one of the most famous mormon families, the one that fledged Donny and Marie.
Oh, yeah, one more note to add to my post @139: The public education system in Utah is currently the lowest-funded in the entire country in terms of per-pupil spending.
But, yes, it could get worse.
This is that Australian factoid quiz, Basic science quiz: do you know your facts?. As others have observed, many of the questions are basically trivia, albeit not of the “singer of song X” variety. I didn’t know the answer to one of the factoids, and so had to reason it out.
Combined with the above 5 year-old quiz, I’m a perfect “science brat”. Reality is a bit — Ok, quite a bit — different…
And The Grauniad’s report on Nasutoceratops titusi, the horned cow, Newly discovered dinosaur Nasutoceratops had cow-like horns:
The mildly deranged penguin has heard a rumour that cows are sometimes involved with cheese. Whilst obviously nonsense — cheeses are plants (there are vast cheese plantations in Atlantis) — she does wonder what sort of cheeses Nasutoceratops would grow? With those horns, perhaps cheeses that fight back?
Matt Taibbi takes David Brooks to task for being, well, stupid about statistics, stupid about the job market, stupid about poor people, stupid about the unemployed, etc.
Taibbi doesn’t call it “mansplaining,” but Brooks is basically mansplaining why 50 year old white guys can’t get a job — and it’s not their fault.
Horace’s distant progenitors?
–
Maybe it is the cats, and not the horses….
blf @141, I think you may have just caused an acute pain experience for David Marjanović.
Cheeses!
To be fair, we can trace the source of the pain to The Grauniad’s report.
This HPV vaccine expose starts well, what with pointing out that not all risks are known… But by the end, it descends into the ordinary loud cries of Vaccines are bad!!!.
And now from the Department of Insulting Lies for Magic Sky Faeries, Taliban’s letter to Malala Yousafzai: this is why we tried to kill you:
This story comes from an apparently infinite stock of banking shenanigans designed to rip you off.
Excerpt:
Jamie Dimon and other global banksters at it again.
Well, this is surely a sign of the end of the world. Corruption has invaded all levels of human society. Even rhythmic gymnastics.
What?! We thought rhythmic gymnastics was pure, chaste, and too silly to invite corruption. We were wrong. The judges bench harbors cheaters and doofuses, doofuses that are too dumb to hide their cheating.
There are tests for the coveted spots of judge for Olympic events. Really, the prospective judges can’t pass the test without cheating?
New York Times link.
Lynna
Husband’s colleague stopped taking his daughter to gymnastics because at their first competition, she was approached by officials and told not to try too hard, because her place had already been determined (as a function of her country of origin, trainer, etc.). Not to show off any super-cool moves that might legitimately cause the judges to give her a higher mark than previously determined. Yeah, sports are fair.
Nothing is too silly or unimportant for corruption.
As a good night, I present a virtual tour of the Hebes Chasma on Mars. I love science and technology!!
25 Children Dead in India After Eating Insecticide-Laced School Lunches.
Apparently, the cooking oil was stored in a contianer that once held insecticide.
Jebus.
Esteleth:
Holy shit.
That sent my new kitten looking everywhere.
The old cats usually don’t react to the computer.
Fun.
looky!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1451666179/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=bngbng-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=1451666179&adid=1T6VXSF1Y8KWJB2S0JFN
Hyperbole and a Half book due in October.
MUST BUY BOOK
Fuck, but that thing is badly written. The last two questions start out “Do you think”, when it should be “Is”. It’s not “Do you think evolution is happening”, it’s “is evolution happening”. What you think has nothing to do with the reality.
*grabs nigel’s ankles, holds tight as dragged towards the door* Noooooooo!!
A coworker asked me to write him a letter of recommendation for a grant. I like the guy and think he does good work, but I have never written a recommendation for anyone before and I’m having a hard time getting started on it. I don’t want to screw him over by writing a poor or mediocre one, but now I’m in danger of being late with it. [Ack!]
And my yearly “accomplishment report” is due to my manager … ah, apparently last Friday. Apparently:
Aaaaand …. borkquote for me.
The Fosters continues to be awesome and intersectional.
:( :( :(
–
*locking brakes on wheelychair and grabbing tightly on to carlie’s ankles*
Now see here, Mr. TheBold! You just got here!
–
I dislike it when clients ignore my answers to their questions, and ask them over and over. It’s even more annoying when they pepper in lots of “You’re the lawyer, you know the law, I’ll take whatever advice you give” then proceed to repeat the same damn questions over the course of weeks because they don’t like the answer I give. I feel a bit like screaming.
dontpanic:
I was never good at those things, so I’m not much help, but I have lots of sympathy.
Maybe start by doing that bubble brainstorming exercise? Or making a simple bullet point list of the reasons you like this guy’s work? Don’t think of it as a letter at first, maybe that will remove some mental obstacles. Good luck!
That’s it, cicely! Use the brakes!
Oh my goodness, wasn’t that something? I totally wasn’t expecting it.
General format that’s good is to say some general things about the person’s work ethic and enthusiasm, then one or two anecdotes where you worked with them (or observed their actions) on a specific project and it shows something about their character/skills/etc., then compare them favorably with generic other people you’ve worked with. Don’t say all kinds of things are good, just focus on two or three that they do well. It doesn’t have to be long – a full page to a page and a half is best. e8
No, e8 is not a code. I sometimes have to put an ice pack on my laptop when I’ve been playing videos and it gets too hot, and it typed for me.
Re: The fosters, it was also a very nice touch that they used neutral terminology. (not trying to be secretive, just wanting to avoid spoilers if needed)
I totally agree, it was very well handled. No stigma, I think it was very good at humanizing an often caricatured issue.
*hugs* and *a soothing cup of tea* for Portia. For what little it’s worth, I’ve seen the same phenomenon over and over and over again…only with The Husband advising a friend or a customer on computer-related questions.
And my mother famously did this same thing with a bathroom remodel (nay, a complete overhaul); the only answer she wanted to hear from The Husband was, “I can do it all in one weekend, for under $100”, when the initial answer was “This’ll take a team of three perhaps a week, and you’re looking at $2500, minimum“. Wrong answer; wait a week,
nagask again.And so it came to pass that the bathroom went un-overhauled for eight more years, rocking-toilet, hole-in-the-floor-next-to-the-bathtub-through-which-you-could-see-the-grasses-waving-in-the-breeze, and shelf-poised-to-collapse-onto-the-toilet and all.
I understand that there were issues with the sink, as well, but I’m no expert; I only report what I could see, and flee from in horror.
–
Threadrupt. Move is ongoing but mostly done. New place is SO BIG compared to what we’re used to! we have a room for joint art and craft projects and all! lucked out on this place
Thanks cicely. What is with people? I mean really.
—
Hooray! I love that in a home :D :D :D
cicely:
Well, I ain’t going nowhere. I’m just a li’l distracted.
/nigel fiddles with some ominous-looking knobs.
Good news though: there’s now another woman on the local municipal committee I’m on. We teamed up on some bullshit tonight and it was glorious. None of the men really listen to us so it went like this:
Other woman: “Simple question, requiring a yes or no answer.”
Chairman: “Evasive, long, unresponsive answer.”
Woman: “Repeats question.”
Man: “Slightly varies unresponsive answer.”
Me: “Yeah, but I don’t think that answers the question.”
Woman: “It doesn’t, because xyz, repeats question.”
Man: “Finally fucking answers the damn question.”
That committee is frustratingly stymied most of the time, and I get roundly ignored. But tonight, we made shit happen together, it was great. There were still about four items on the agenda the report for which was basically “Well, this is n’t really something our committee has the power or desire to do anything about, but it’s just on here because reasons”
Portia:
Well, since it’s well-known that 7/16 woman = 1 man (look it up), it’ll take two women to statistically meet the acknowledgement-threshold of any committee. So, if both of you work together, you’ll get recognized about 87% of the time.
Take-away: definitely use the buddy-system.
(Ugh. I kinda made myself nauseous writing that. But it took effort, so I’m posting it.)
nigel:
It made me smile…well made me exhibit 7/16 of a smile.
Well, then. Worth the considerable effort.
Ain’t enough smiles in the world. Even fractional smiles.
Oh, ok, now I’ve got a whole one.
:D
So. In the hopes that I’m gonna be around a bit more these days (fingers crossed in a childish desire to influence the future), I reckon I should offer a bit of an explanation why I haven’t been around much these last few months.
I quit my job back at the end of December to focus on a project I’ve been working on with two of my brothers. It’s taken all my time.
And that’s how the story ends. Or begins, maybe. I’m still busy, so narrative subtleties are left to flounder on their own.
Aaaanyway, now we have products, other brothers are working on business and sales, and The Geek (that’s me) has some time back for himself. Not a lot, but a little. So I hope to be a little bit more omnipresent. Not so much with the omni-, but definitely a bit more with the -present.
That’s the plan, anyway.
This. This is why I can’t quit you, Pharyngula.
:D
Good luck with that project, and with having more leisure time.
You know, there are support groups if you ever decide to give up the addiction and really get your life straight. Octophiles Anonymous. ^_^
With that, I bid the Lounge goodnight.
nigelTheBold:
Wait…slams on brakes…you’re a…a…geek? Can’t have another one around here. ‘Fraid you’re gonna have to play another role. The Jock? The Headmaster? Le Cook? The Butler (you do buttle, no)?
I’m for bed, too.
It’s nice to have you back, nigelTheBold.
Well, that was the wrong conversation to get into.
Hey, what’s the general consensus on Barbie here?
Barbie, as in, the totally unrealistic anorexic doll?
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE.
(Seriously, I’d rather have gotten new action figures for Christmas, but noooooo. It was always a goddamn Barbie doll!)
Tony
He can’t be the resident smartass cat, I’ve taken that position.
There’s no reason we can’t have more than one nerd in residence, yeah?
WMDKitty
Yeah, that doll. I accidentally made someone on FB very angry by saying that Barbie supports all kinds of negative stereotypes for girls, and that she’s too skinny by far, and got replied to very angrily about how I don’t talk to my children, that her measurements are such to make the ‘logistics of dressing her’ easier**, and that little girls have far better things to do than to calculate the BMI of their favourite toy… :/
I understand that Barbie has a good side (playing dress-up, role playing, etc.). Which I mentioned. But I guess someone just doesn’t like it when Barbie gets dissed.
Anyway, it just wasn’t the way I usually like to start my morning before coffee.
** Supposedly, the narrow waist was needed in order for all clothes to fit her properly; a wider waist would make her bulky. Which kind of proves my point, no? Bulky = unpretty, therefore undesirable?
+++
Tony
Considering there’s so many of us, I think we’ll have to double up on the roles and titles. Who’s the other geek, anyway?
I suspect we’re ALL geeks and/or nerds of some stripe or another, here.
http://youtu.be/N9qYF9DZPdw
Here’s a poll worth of the Horde (not): Why is Shia LaBeouf staring at me?
And a short conversation with the founder of HarassMap in Cairo, and attempts to change society’s views on rape/harassment in Egypt.
And for parents: CTFD.
y <- It's been running a bit fast and loose, instead of sitting in its rightful place in comment @190.
I need a nap
rq,
I think I’ve read, a couple of days ago, about a new Barbie that is going to look more realistic.
Now that I’ve picked all the black currants, what do I do with them?
+++
Beatrice
Interesting. You wouldn’t happen to have a link, would you?
Never mind, Beatrice, google showed me this and this. It’s not a real new look, just an artist’s rendition of what a realistic Barbie would look like.
(commencing factoid bombardment)
Tentacle fetishist to bring back ‘Swedish sin’ http://www.thelocal.se/49116/20130718/
Bona fide tentacle porn!
World’s Oldest Calendar Found In Scotland? 10,000-Year-Old Monument May Have Tracked Lunar Months (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/15/worlds-oldest-calendar-scotland-10000-monument_n_3600432.html
Mesolithic monument from about 8,000 B.C.
Now the Scots will be insufferable any time people bring up the rather young Stoneyhenge monument.
Paternal explanatory syndrome http://www.gocomics.com/richards-poor-almanac/2013/06/10
(Tpyo: Stonehenge is indeed stoney )
One nanoparticle plus one antibody equals targeted drug delivery to tumors (herceptin + camptothecin) http://phys.org/news/2013-07-nanoparticle-antibody-equals-drug-delivery.html
Nanoparticles help disrupt tumor blood supply, destroy tumors vascular disrupting agents (VDAs): TNF-α http://phys.org/news/2013-07-nanoparticles-disrupt-tumor-blood-tumors.html
Boosting immune therapy for cancer with nanoparticles
http://phys.org/news/2013-07-boosting-immune-therapy-cancer-nanoparticles.html
Modulating the immune system to combat metastatic cancer (including brain metastases) http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-modulating-immune-combat-metastatic-cancer.html#nRlv
(NB) Simulated metabolic networks show exaptations far outnumber adaptations http://phys.org/news/2013-07-simulated-metabolic-networks-exaptations-outnumber.html
Heating effect: Nanophysicists offer novel insight into experimental cancer treatment http://phys.org/news/2013-07-nanophysicists-insight-experimental-cancer-treatment.html
Novel bacterial ‘language’ discovered http://phys.org/news/2013-07-bacterial-language.html
How cranberries impact infection-causing bacteria http://phys.org/news/2013-07-cranberries-impact-infection-causing-bacteria.html
@David Marjanovic
Did you see my answer to your question?
I thought it was a great question, btw, which is why I was trying to make sure you saw the response. Sorry for pestering.
Crip dyke,
hugs if you want them.
PZ when you get through the hate mail, I recommend checking out the “exaptations” stuff. Come to think of it, lobe-finned fish have exaptations for developing limbs if migrating to dry land. Ray-finned fish (the majority of fish species) not so much.
Terminology for hot weather, DC style.
http://www.gocomics.com/richards-poor-almanac/2013/07/15
There. I changed my avatar.
Cause seriously. Red panda.
Portia. I am still totally adding a character based on you to my story XD
You are one badass mother-shut-your-mouth.
KevinKat
Please post a huge annonce on here when your book(s) come out, because I’m getting to that point where I’m dying to read them!
Good morning!
I second rq! and not just because I’m totally flattered… :D
It’s going to be 95°F here today. I want to drive five hours to Michigan but I’m debating waiting til the heat of the day breaks. Thoughts?
Sorry rq, I was offline
Beatrice
It’s ok. I refreshed some google skills.
Portia
I say wait until the heat breaks, that’s just not happy driving weather.
+++
For some laughs:
– customer service at its finest (also a tip on how to book an internet hotel);
– how well do you know your proverbs?;
– cephalopod image of the day. The caption comes to the wrong conclusion (really? science quits?) but this is the octopodal danger facing us.
I should be folding laundry, but instead I’m sitting here and listening to the thunderstorm outside. Relaxing.
Smiley type stuff if you need one.
Just for more fun (or not):
– don’t put your spouse on the do-not-fly list – just don’t;
– a handy guide for dudes and jerks, as found on this tumblr, which looks pretty neat (sketches and artwork!)!
My dilemma is that the sooner i leave the sooner i can dive into my aunt’s pool and splash with my niece and nephew :)
This looks like an awesome acrobatic-musical-clown-steampunk show, as presented last night in the city of Kuldīga, celebrating its annual city festival (and they put on a good festival, and the city is perfect for a kitschy-medieval-type feel and outdoor events in great historic locations). Click through to see some (IMO) really neat aspects of the performance.
Thanks for that link, Rev. BigDumbChimp, very beautiful and happy-inducing – they’re all so damn happy!! :) A beautiful wedding and so much love.
Portia
Well… It won’t get cool that fast, will it? ;)
:D Thank you for the rationalization. It actually probably won’t…I’ll just stock lotsa water..
Now that’s ‘some rain’.
Note: that was a comment on the weather here, not on your desire to stock lots of water, Portia. ;)
The storm is escalating.
I’m sleepy.
Anyone interested in historical photos of Latvia? An internet archive – the menu on the right categorizes by location and by topic, some more obvious than others.
Heard Train’s song “Bruises” on the radio today, for the second time. And for the second time, I flipped the bird at the radio after the third line.
I mean, really? It’s bad enough that the trope for what a man says when he meets up with a woman he hasn’t seen for years is “you’re looking good.” But “gravity hasn’t started to pull”? ARGH!
Scandinavia and the world
http://satwcomic.com/public-park
Ok I’m off to put the screws to an illegal eviction and then on to the Great Lakes state. :)
Go, Portia!!! :D
Back to Barbie: I know she’s had several careers in the military, but has Barbie ever been issued with a weapon/gun?
@birgerjohansson
Thanks, I really do appreciate them.
@Portia
Looking forward to seeing a refreshed version of the beautiful stain pattern on your boots!
Heya Crip Dyke, did you get the email I sent you awhile back?
Tony!:
Yep. And, my real name is Tony.
Are you me? That’d be cool, but also kind of weird. Like a Phillip K. Dick novel.
Why, I buttle like nobody’s business.
chigau:
Thanks. It’s really good to be back.
Portia,
I totally had a vision/flash of you whisking out the door, with your cape swirling behind you. You do wear a cape, right?
Yes, the list of crushed spirits should definitely include slumlords. And soon, beach sand mixed with the soot ^_^
yazikus
…
…
*whoosh*
:D
Attention, lots of whining ahead
Feel free to ignore
1. It’s hot
2. I have a headache
3. I still have to revise some gramar before an exam tomorrow where I feel that 50% of my success will depend on luck
4. My mum is an asshole, giving my daughter a treat for fucking misbehaving because obviously I’m evil being angry at her.
learning dvorak is hard….
Query for the German-speaking Horde:
There is a trend amongst Americans of learning of some random bit of German vocabulary and chortling over it (usually in the “wow, they have a word for that?” sense – though laughing about literal translations is also common). I’m as guilty of this as the next person (most recently over “kummerspeck”) and now I’m curious as to how:
(1) German-speakers actually view this? With amusement? As it being offensive/rude?
(2) Frequently these terms are actually used – English has an entire kettle of funny words that we don’t actually use all that much.
Five men in high heels. Awesome.
Esteleth
I think the fun effect is mostly due because you never ever think about how ridiculous the words of your own language are as you don’t take the literal parts.
Kummerspeck? Yeah, it’s used.
But seriously, German is great at making nouns. We can make long nouns. We can put about as many nouns together as you can think of. Recently when during Wimbledon Sabine Lisiki won against Venus Williams the headline was “Weltranglistenerstebezwingering” (Vicotor over the #1 female tennis player).
Apart from that I’m frequently annoyed at English native speakers who assume that English is the pinnacle of languages while all the others are stupid. English Native Speaker prvilege is a thing.
Screw that illegal eviction, Portia! Screw it hard!
:D
–
1. *glass of iced tea (sweetening optional)*
2. *hug* and sympathy. I’d offer a *scalp rub* as well, but I know not everybody likes to have their hair touched.
3. I cannot help you, there. Except to nit-pick that grammar has two m’s, which…probably won’t help your headache at all. :(
4. I cannot help you there, either. Except to suggest the foundation of an Island of Asshole Moms, somewhere. Perhaps yours and mine could have a lovely talk, belittling their offspring to each other.
–
rq, that was…mesmerizing.
–
nightshadequeen
Dvorak is, however, beautiful.
+++
Judging from the state of our bathroom, humans must be descended from hippos. I see no other alternative to the splash-damaged everything (no carpet, though – ew).
I had the oddest dream last night.
Since it is a dream and does not make sense, I shall simply state what I recall rather than trying to recreate the “narrative”
1- I, and a small group of people whom I cannot remember, took a trip to Venus.
2- In aerial flybys we saw volcanic activity(similar to the planet Obi-Wan and Anakin fought on in Episode 3)
3- At some point we were hopping across rocky outcroppings to avoid the lava
4- Far in the distance we saw trees, which was odd since we thought such did not exist on Venus, so we had to investigate
5- We found a lush area, replete with all manner of trees and plants and of course realized water had to be nearby. While searching, I came across … wait for it … several mini venus flytraps. I remember spitting into one to see if it were real, and it clamped its ‘mouth’ down
6- We found an underground water delivery system
7- We got our picture taken and I remember thinking how no one would believe we were on Venus without proof. Looking around, I saw a street sign and as I was about to grab it, I did a double take and wondered why a sign was on Venus.
8- As I wondered that, someone else pointed out a small home/grocery store where two women lived.
9- Apparently the women were part of some experiment to colonize Venus and terraform it.
10- Also, the women had horses.
11- We saw a thunderstorm in the distance and realized we had to get back home.
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEANNNNNN!!!!!!!!????????
(Did I mention that we did not wear protectice gear or breathing apparatus ((is that the plural of that ‘apparati’?)) )
What an odd dream.
Tony!
I am disappointed. No liquor, donuts, dwarfs or therapods. Boring dream.
What does it mean? Depends. What did you have for dinner?
Here’s what mormons think of anti-mormonism, and how they think they should combat it:
YouTube link.
And here are some comments from ex-mormons discussing the mormon propaganda video:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/list.php?2
cicely
Thanks.
And I swear that damn G-word changes its number of Ms from language to language and I can never remember how many it currently has…
As for my mum: In the end she mostly hurts herself. Because yes I am the gatekeeper to my children. She might be sober but she ain’t getting access to them alone by showing me time after time that she totally disapproves of everything I say or do and has no intentions whatsoever to respect me, my parenting or my wishes. Seriously, if I had behaved like #1 did I’d have gotten a spanking and if I’d complained about it it would have been followed by silent treatment. #1 gets a toy because her horrible mum makes her go home in underwear (and I swear that underwear was a concession. I would have taken her naked because she was the one who jumped into the pool fully clothed)
Giliell:
…buh?
English is many things, but logical, easy-to-learn, or internally consistent it is not.
Combatting bitchy resting face. I do not approve of some of the language in the video, but it has a point. Might strike a chord with some of us here.
And Trayvon Martin and victim blaming – a good read.
Take a look at the chart at the top of this article. It clearly illustrates that unequal justice is dispensed to blacks, and that this inequality soars dramatically in states that have “stand your ground” laws.
I understand that there are people like this, but it’s hard for me to imagine, at least under the right circumstances (no unasked touching). I find it so soothing.
Good movie review.
Excerpt:
I remember being exposed to a lot of this overt or thinly-veiled “blame the women” shit as a young movie-goer. Now I’m fucking done with it. Besides being offensive, it is sort of anti-creative, a black hole of stupid.
:-) Americans.
(…Not saying a bathroom carpet or a kitchen carpet is a defensible idea at all.)
Uh, yes, sorry, I just don’t have anything to add. :-) And the thread was exhausting. While I’m not sure such a general provision makes sense all the time, I see the idea behind it now, thanks!
And I haven’t visited the [Lounge] since comment 113. :-)
I haven’t giggled so loud and so ridiculously in a long time. Good thing I’m alone here. I’m so going to steal this…
And now I sweat, because it’s so stupidly hot and damp in this bizarre room that even giggling hard is too much work!
*headdesk*
Well, what do you expect from a site called “collective-evolution.com”. That’s Pokémon evolution newage.
*headdesk*
Not in Germany, sez copyright collection agency: publisher’s rights might not have been conceded for some of the music, so I can’t watch it.
Awesome.
*nods firmly* I approve.
♥
…Yes, as far as we’re aware of it.
Typos for Lisinski and *inhale* Weltranglistenerstebezwingerin *exhale*, the latter meaning “female victor in a rather poetic way” (Bezwingerin; from zwingen, “to force”) over the “first female one” (Erste) in the “world rank list” (Weltrangliste, simply enough), and the former being the male form of a Polish surname – the female one would end in -ska.
Such a long word must have been contrived under space constraints, though – probably in the legend of an illustration.
A few hundred years ago, it was “our language is of no use beyond our isle”…
But that one you have to spell the original way: Dvořák. With the dread Ř.
Do you know how the Latvian Ŗ was pronounced (and still is in one dialect, sez Pffft)? Well, some ancestor of the Czech language had that sound (as Russian still does). And then the Czechs decided it wasn’t difficult enough.
It’s basically what comes out when you try to say r and ž at the same time, fast.
~:-| What makes you think dreams mean anything? They’re “thunderstorms in the brain”. Bits and pieces of memories flaring up while you’re trying and failing to make a plot out of them.
In the original Latin, yes.
Also, Nasutoceratops titusi should, like, totally be N. titi, but I think it’s actually good that the authors opted to go for the “regarded as a modern name” clause. :-]
:-D
Everywhere in the world you can find people who claim that in other languages you can’t do what you can do in their language (…always a single one…), usually just because they don’t know how to do it in any other language.
Usually that’s just a background annoyance, but now that English is the world language (Exhibit A: this thread), English native-speaker privilege is a thing.
For cicely.
David
re: the letter R
As an old-schooled Latvian (that means pre-WWII Latvian – because that’s the Latvian we had in Canada), I got all the perks of learning my grammar with the softened R (and -ch- in place of -h-). Nobody told us that the grammar revisionists had long since removed it, due to it being (a) difficult to remember (HA, says I); and (b) unpronounceable (HA again, says I). But it is no longer officially in use in any dialect, but I like to put it in my official reports just to see if anyone notices (they don’t).
Also, I know about Dvorak and the other one, I just automatically default to the music-Dvorak (with accents). It took me a while to say it right, but luckily I had some good tutors in high school (a Polish friend and a Czech friend).
Esteleth
Believe me, I wrote a paper on this and dug through the literature. The idea that English is The. Best. Language. Ever. is widely spread. Not only amongst idiots but amongst scholars and linguists alike. Add “only western native speaker varieties are acceptable” into the mix. It’s astounding how quickly renowned sociolinguists who will fight tooth and claw against stigma attached to regional varieties seem to forget everything they’re preaching about that when it comes to other varieties of English.
David
Now you know how interested I’m in tennis ;)
It was the headline in Die Welt Kompakt, btw. I only saw it because there’s a box in front of my college building and it’s hard not to notice the headline. It made me smile.
In comment 148, I talked about one of the latest global bankster rip-offs detailed by Matt Taibbi. In that comment, I called the rip-offs “apparently infinite.” Ah, so right. Here’s another, another that involves JP Morgan Chase. [emphasis mine]
See? Yet another method for the banksters to fuck you over.
The energy price manipulation scheme is followed by new details about the Chase tactic of creating revenue via purposely breaking the law — knowing that the fines they pay for breakage will be less than the ill-gotten gains.
See the link for the mind-boggling list of misdeeds.
Oh, sure. I’d bet that a lot of that is tightly wound up in “we’re obviously the best due to [cultural/political/economic/racial/ethnic/religious reason], so therefore, everything we do must be the best” pseudo-logic.
Some of that social policing can be quite subtle and also quite overt – my grandmother (whose name – given and surname – is German) reports that when she was young she was repeatedly “corrected” on the proper pronunciation of her own name by her schoolteachers – that is, she was given very clearly to understand by the local authority whose job it was to educate her that the “correct” to say her name was to Anglicize it.
Thanks, David.
I didn’t need you to respond, per se. I mean I didn’t need you to have anything to say about it. I just knew that the thread was exhausting and that there was good reason not to come back to it. I wanted you to be able to know that there was at least one (possibly) reasonable answer without needing to read the whole thread looking for it.
Hope everything is going well there.
And I can’t begin to imagine how to make that “Ř” sound. I envy your knowledge of language and etymology, but the kind of auditory processing necessary to even understand how the sound is distinguished from, say, that Latvian one, is probably beyond me.
I knew a kid named Dvorak when I was in school. His family pronounced it Dee-vor-ak. With a heavy accent on the last syllable.
rq – Now why would you even show me that thing, when you have to have noticed that not a one of those Horses spontaneously combusted, or anything? Why???
–
It is another day of living in a sauna here, but hopefully tomorrow the storms will come and bring some relief.
I have some distressing news. There are no bumblebees in my garden. There are lots of blooming flowers that are normally abuzz with several different subspecies of bumbles. There were a few evident this spring, but there aren’t any at all now. I am very sad. I miss their buzzing bee music. I had never realized how much of the garden was the sound of the bees.
Ugh working all day to finish move and unpacking…heat is unbearable!
On the plus side, due to having closest with built in shelving I now for the first time have EXCESS shelf space in book cases! Whohoo!
Esteleth
My favourite is when Americans, knowing that I’m German, correct my British spelling…
+++
I’m going to call it a day. Because if there’s one sure way to fuck up an exam it’s to thik that whatever you don’t know yet will get into your head at 3 am the night before…
Ing, what is this ‘excess bookshelf space’ of which you speak?
–
@Cicely
Ok hear me out. It’s possible to not have enough books to fill a bookshelf.
MIND BLOWN
cic-UH-lee, ci-SEEL-le, cic-uh-LAY (how many variations can be found in pronouncing your nym?):
I think it means more space for shoes.
Of course, that means your issue is insufficent books, not excess shelf space.
rq @150:
Holy shit! How must his daughter have felt after that? Depressing in the extreme.
This is a temporary situation, a minor flux in the space-time continuum that will soon revert to the norm.
A steady state of never-enough-room for one’s books is inevitable … and comforting.
In my house if any space on a bookshelf looks like it is even thinking about being “extra,” I fill it with rocks. Rocks are also repositories of stories.
Lovely.
elind is back ::eyeroll::
Word. Seen it here too – said by people who aren’t even good at English.
I currently do not have enough books to fill my shelf-space… Because they’re all in Canada in storage! And it’s frustrating, because I’m not likely to have the opportunity or the cash the ship them here for a long, long, long time. *sadface*
Anyway, to bed am I. Good night!
Remove some from other storage spaces — like the ceiling — and insert into bookcase. Use a hammer. If the bookcase explodes, discard all of its fragments, thus providing some additional space for the next set of books.
Or you all could buy the books on KINDLE or NOOK and get rid of print copies…
.
.
.
.
.
Okay, this is like that whole square-root-of-a-negative-number thing they tried to teach me Back In Skool, right? No such animal? Crocoducktile?
–
*blinking in confusion*
No…no; shoes are racked on vertical surfaces (that haven’t yet been fitted with some sort of door/wall-to-bookshelf adaptation device), books occupy all horizontal surfaces.
At a pinch, shoes may be hung from shower curtain rods on clothes-hanger-to-shoe-rack adapters. You know—when you need to adapt the doors for books.
–
Though not an issue that has troubled me since, oh, high school.
I would go so far as to say that there is no such thing as a sufficiency of books.
–
*wince*
rq, I feel your pain.
I once had a friend suggest that my books could be stored in Rubbermaid™ tubs in the garage. To get them offa my floor, walls, furniture….
More of a collegue, really.
–
Ton-EE, T’OH-ny, TOON-y…I can’t help but notice how flammable you’re looking this evening.
Your Shoopness, taking away my dead-tree books is gonna involve cold, dead hands. Multiple pairs. Only one of which will be mine.
–
Channeling the Redhead are you? *Sigh°
Hey, I want to alter my nym.
How do I access my FtB profile now?
Crip Dyke
Thank you for your efforts in the Trayvon threads. Your posts really helped my understanding of the legal complexities involved.
This link popped up on Facebook today:
Putting Casual Racism on Trial.
It contains a link to a peer reviewed study using mock trials to determine the racial biases in legal proceedings.
I’m flaming tonight?
Is that the smell I detect?
We’ve been have 90 ºC weather here in Chiwaukee. The Redheads bp has been low (<100/yy) while the heat was high When the bp is below 100/yy, we are (according to the Redhead), not take the bp pills. The next morning her bp is higher, but not excessively so <120/zz). Anything to worry about here?
If you try to take away my books, it will be.
–
And if you click on the “Logged in as <your 'nym in blue", it'll take you to where you can make changes.
–
Seeing if I have a Gravatar now
*sigh*
Make that, “And if you click on the “Logged in as “”, yada yada.
–
The Philistines thread has me a bit spooked to give my opinion on dead tree books.
Let’s just say that having spent the better part of two decades buying and selling used books I’m not at all sentimental about them as objects. Standing knee deep in piles of books knowing that those you don’t select are destined for a landfill will tend to do that to a person. As will lifting and carrying box after box of them, day after day, year after year. I have a pretty vast collection of paperback sci-fi and fantasy, and other than the one I’m reading they’re all in boxes in our shed.
That said, if someone were to tell me their beloved books had been destroyed my response would be one of sympathy.
This is a test, this is only a test of a new gravitar. Had this been a real emergency you would have been instructed to secure your towel. This is only a test. You may now reset your site monitors. Thank you.
[::Spits::] Well that didn’t work …
Another try…
So, Books. I usually give most of mine away, because I love them and want other people to love them. So I often have to re-seed my book shelves.
–
I’m trying to read a book now, by Christopher Moore. I had enjoyed (when younger) his books. Lamb: The Gospels According to Biff, Fluke, Bloodsuckers; a Love Story, and The Island of the Sequined Love Nun. The book I am trying to read is titled Sacre Bleu, A Comede D’Art. And I can’t even follow the plot, I am so distracted by his lady-hate. I’d love some opinions from anyone who has read his work. I know he used to write for playboy, and is irreverent in his writing. But this one just really seems quite misogynistic. I feel like it could be a good story, but is so overshadowed by rape jokes, ageism, ableism, attacks against agency and just all around lady-hate that I cannot enjoy it. I get that he is trying to make a story incorporate art, but it is not working for me.
–
Any thoughts from The Horde on this author or this book?
Also, this might be better for the Thunderdome, but I went by my local bookstore to pick up some reading material for Baked Potato Pizza Day (at my local pizza place, it is my favorite) and grabbed the newest Skeptical Inquirer.
–
It included a lengthy summary of a UFO conference and not one word about Women In Secularism, save for the bottom paragraph of the editorial which vaguely mentioned civility and blogs and what-not. They did not cover the talks, the speakers, or publish any letters to the editor about the conference. I know there were letters sent (Hey, I sent one!).
–
What is up with that???
yazikus, well that’s because UFO’s are a relevant, hot topic with new stuff being discovered about them every day and well, you know how it is, women are not. ::eyeroll::
Not flaming tonight…
…high, though??
Yazikus
I’m a big Moore fan, and I don’t recall his books having more than ordinary background levels of misogyny, but that could well be my privileged viewpoint. I haven’t read that particular one in a while, though, and my memories are pretty fuzzy.
The number one hit in the US on the radio is blatantly a rape-celebrating piece of dogshit.
Listen, if you want here. Trigger warning in effect, because of certain lines.
Strangely, both of the top 2 songs on the radio are 70s throwbacks. The difference is the #2 hit, Get Lucky by Daft Punk, is actually pretty good, which is frankly bizarre for radio hits.
FossilFishy(Anti-Vulcanist)
During the Big Flood of ’11 (not quite biblical) we had to box up all of our books and get them to higher ground. I love my Kindle now…
(I would still do it for my picture books and those printed on nice paper though – you just can’t get that in a Kindle… but paperbacks? Words are lighter than wood pulp.)
Your link is borked Rip.
FossilFishy
I like the way real books feel, but at the same time, most books are reproduced in electronic formats quite successfully. I have no problem with reading novels electronicaly; in fact, I prefer it, because I can have hundreds of books with me, except just the one (but for some reason, I do read paper books faster).
I do, however, have some fantastic picture books (incl. photos) that just can’t be transferred to a Kindle or portable size. Either they’re fairly rare (a couple of books from childhood that are left in Ottawa but for which I’d like to find my own copies are, apparently, pretty much unknown anywhere on the internet), or they just have beautiful art that I like to look at, but I’d much rather have them as Real Paper Books, not something for the screens (kind of like seeing Monet in real life… which someone described on that thread, and now I want to see it for myself even more).
And a lot of my textbooks (diagrams, flowcharts) wouldn’t really fit well on a screen, either.
I can understand that there’s an sensual appeal to a paper book. I don’t really share an appreciation for that as far as text-only works go. When I’m enjoying a book I don’t notice the words on the paper, let alone how the book as a whole feels or appears. Hell, I don’t even really appreciate those authors about whom folks go on about their use of language. If I notice what words are being used it’s because I’m not really into the story. And truthfully, that’s my loss rather than any slight on how other people enjoy things.
Now picture books, art books especially, I’m right there with you. We have an ipad with the ‘retina’ screen and high-res art on that is pretty damn fine looking. But at the end of the day you’re still staring into a light-bulb*. With the exception of video art we are used to seeing works via reflected light rather than projected light. A high quality art book inherently does that better.
*Why the hell is spellcheck telling me I have to hyphenate that? Surely it’s one word by now?
Over and above how easy it is to lug around, I love my ereader because no matter the time of day I can get a new book. I invariably finish my book late at night as that’s the only time to read. (Or at least when the Tour de France isn’t on that is.) That ability to go on-line and get something new right then and there was the prime reason I bought one. Mind you, I was an early adopter and my BeBook has some serious flaws.
FossilFishy
For me, language in a book is of prime importance, because it’s the key reason I am able or unable to get into the book. If the language is good (or excellent), then yes, I’m less likely to notice it, because I’m going with it – seeing what it describes, feeling the emotions, experiencing the story. If the language is bad (or atrocious), then all the little inconsistencies or oddities take away from my ability to experience the story in full. I recently read Drood by Dan Simmons, and that was one difficult book to get into. The language felt constantly off, and it had no likeable premise, much less a comprehensible premise of what the author was trying to get across. (Or maybe I’m just dim and didn’t understand. *shrug*)
First exam done, wish me luck for the second
rq
Heh, I’m pretty much the opposite. The last book I read was written in that annoying style were every damn thing had to at least one adjective. After three or four pages I stopped noticing because the story was interesting.
I’m much more attentive to word choice and the like in songs. If I know the rhyme before you sing it you’ve pretty much lost me.
I really enjoyed Hyperion by Simmons and hated that rest of the series. I’d say he spends a lot of effort making things as confusing as possible. But perhaps that’s just me as well.
Giliell
Break a hippocampus!
A hippo-camp.
+++
Giliell
Many thumbs in hand for you!!
FossilFishy
I suppose that’s just the author, then – but see, some books use their adjectives well, and they flow with the actual story, and it’s very enrapturing reading, because the image I get is stunning. I mean moments when the words are stilted, or the adjectives not-quite-right (I found a lot of Drood to have this problem – like, That word does not fit the rest of the mood type of thing), or sentences too long (or too short) or too oddly structured. I’m trying to think of examples, but the kids are rioting downstairs and mother nature is rioting outside, so it’s a bit hard to think, but I think we’re on the same page, really. (ha.ha.)
Ha. Better that than mother nature rioting downstairs while the kids riot outside. Speaking of which, there’s a break in the rain just now so I’m going to dash for home. Sure I have plastic pants, but I’d rather not wear them. ;)
On days like today I feel like I missed the warning for the Great Flood Part II.
Plastic pants? *gasp* You’re really letting Opportunity pass you by.
Good luck on the trip home!
Doesn’t the existence of casual friday effectively prove that all the rules about what you are allowed to wear the rest of the workweek are just mindfuck?
Beatrice
Probably.
It’s original purpose, though, as far as I know, was to relax the work atmosphere and to put everyone on the same level… I think. (Probably wrong.)
Mind-bleach needed!! Just accidentally started reading the most revolting thing ever… Didn’t finish, but still – ew!
I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere, so I thought I’d bring it up here.
Andrew Brown on the Guardian has made a particularly silly article defending a particularly silly defence of creationism/creationists.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2013/jul/18/virginia-heffernan-creationism-nothing-wrong
(The essence seems to be ‘Scientists are so arrogant, with their “facts”, and “evidence” – you can hardly blame people for prefering the poetry of religion. And I’m not saying it’s true, but you never know, it might be”).
Yeah, but why aren’t they “at the same level” the rest of the time? (at least where wardrobe is concerned)
Yeah, sorry, a neighbor was asking me about my casual wear for work last friday and the conversation came to my mind again today. I dress casually every day.:)
OK, so i’m done. Conservative estimate says I should have passed. Since I don’t need to worry about my GPA anyway (has something to do with changing programs) that shoudl do.
Now I’m going to take a nap
Giliell
You deserve at least a nap. Congrats on being done, here’s hoping for good marks!!
Congrats, Giliell!
We went a couple of years with no honey or bumblebees. They came back last year and have been happily sexing up the peas in our back yard all summer.
It was already 80F when I was driving to work this morning.
Try putting the stacks of books that are on the floor, or the nightstand, onto the shelves. Weird, but it just may work.
Fixed that vice Pratchett.
No, shoes and boots get tossed onto the bootmat in the mud room, or into the corner of my closet.
Do not flame the shoop. Mutton should be slow roasted. Or stewed with juniper berries and corn.
I flamed last night on the porch. A Garo Double Habano. 6 by 52. Felt a little light headed towards the end.
OK, back from nap and de-pompeiiing the kitchen ;)
As for books, i go for content AND language. I’m a language freak (you might have noticed), so for me somebody mastering it like Pratchett is a pleasure in and on itself. I won’t read a non-college boring book, I won’t read a non-college badly written book. Life’s too short and there are too many good books to waste it with the bad ones.
BTW, if you want to restore a bit of faith in humanity, work through the discussions with wscot here. He came as a shallow run-off-the-mill Nice Guy™ and actually read what the women told him and changed his mind.
His name was Lyle.
I’m ashamed to admit that I only found that out for sure a few months ago. It’s not like he was a new customer. He’d been riding the 30km to our shop a couple of times a month since we bought it five years ago. But somehow along the way I’d gotten turned around and I could never remember if his name was Lionel or Lyle.
Once I thought I had a way out without having to admit my stupidity. I was really busy when he came in to order some parts. I asked him to write his name and number down with a list of what he wanted while I helped another customer. I was foiled, he didn’t have a phone.
He wasn’t the first regular to die in my twenty four years of serving customers, but he is the first to make me cry.
It wasn’t a shock*, Lyle was in his late seventies, maybe even early eighties. I don’t actually know. You see, we rarely talked about his life. We talked bicycles, they were his passion and his joy. He rode daily right up to the end. One of the few details I know is that he had worked on Mount Buffalo until he retired. I asked once how many times he’d ridden up it and all he could say was “Hundreds.”
If your picture is a little old man tottering along on a rusty old cruiser bike you’d be half right. He was tiny. But he always rode a bike appropriate for what he was doing. I sold him a nice hardtail mountain bike for riding in the bush. He had a collection of proper drop bar road bikes for the bitumen.
Most often the work I did for him was swapping cranks between frames. Every couple of months he’d acquire a new bike and the good parts he owned would up and migrate through his stable until they found a new equilibrium.
He took great pride in his bikes. The only time I complain about the condition of a customer’s bike is when it has a dangerous spider making it’s home there. Lyle’s bikes never had so much as a cobweb; they were always clean and polished. Scratches and any graphics he deemed ugly were carefully covered with matt silver tape, edges cut perfectly square and smoothed down with nary a ripple or bubble.
Whenever I ordered the new Shimano catalogue I always got an extra for him. This year’s is still sitting on the special order shelf.
He was a kind and intelligent man. He had a purity of purpose, he loved to ride, and he had a self-deprecating disregard for what anyone thought of that.
I’m going to cherish my memories of him. And one day soon I will ride up Mount Buffalo. A bit of pointless sentimentality perhaps, but it seems like the right thing to do now that he’s no longer here to do it himself. If only I’d done so sooner so I could have enjoyed discussing my experience with him.
His name was Lyle, and I will never forget him.
*Well, it was a little surprising. He was remarkably healthy so far as I could tell. Apparently the autopsy was delayed because there were no medical records for him, which if I understood correctly meant that he hadn’t been to a doctor in the last 55 years.
FossilFishy
I’m sorry, and what a fantastic character! *hugs*
FossilFishy: My sympathies. I’ve lost a number of customers at my work, too. I could never give them such a nice eulogy as this.
I am playing a concert tomorrow up at the Zane Grey Museum in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania. The event is free; there are activities for children and adults and I will be one of the musical acts. My concert list:
Joe Bean
The Cruise of the Callabar (modified for the D&H canal)
Billy the Kid
The E-RI-E Canal
Railroad Bill
Joe Hill
Long Black Veil
Tijuana Jail
Pretty Boy Floyd
Hard Travelin’
Ghost Riders in the Sky
Jesse James
Stewball
Wreck of the Old 97
Philadelphia Lawyer
Everglades
Encore:
Charlie on the MTA
This Land is Your Land
Two concert sessions, each of about 40 minutes. Just me, my guitar, a couple of mikes, a Fender amp, and my tunes.
Still working on the order.
All of the songs are about criminals, people who screwed up, or people who pissed of the powers that be. Should be fun.
Speaking of books, I’m taking some time today to go to a friends of the library book sale, in which I expect to find all sorts of treasures at dirt-cheap prices to add to my collection. Can’t do that with e-readers.
That’s one of my biggest beefs about digital reading, by the way – the lack of browsing and serendipity in finding cool things. I can’t even count the number of times I found something cool because it caught my eye as I was walking through its section on my way to where I was going. There is no analog to that in e-reading, because even the “what other people who bought this are reading” tags are self-selected for people who like the same kinds of things. There simply isn’t an online corollary to “I saw this book on typography and then this one on the role of women in Puritan society on the way to the gardening book I was looking for.”
I would totally be there if I could – good luck!
Giliell: Good luck!
–
*hugs* and sympathy for FossilFishy.
–
The once mighty retail giant, Sears, has lost half its value in the last five years. Ayn Rand is behind this colossal failure of management.
Link.
Disgustingly, “Crazy Eddie” Lampert and his early investment buddies did make a bundle on the Sears debacle. So, I guess all is well as long as Lampert makes money and thousands of Sears employees lose their jobs, thousands of stores close, and the remaining employees are stuck in the same low-wage sand that sucks down Wal-Mart employees.
A mormon writes about Moments of Mormon Madness in the MTC (Missionary Training Center). Excerpts below:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/56608974-80/kirby-mission-missionary-robert.html.csp
Fossilfishy
*hugs* and sympathies
Ogvorbis
Sounds like a great time and I wish I could go; all of those by the Calabar are long-time favorites of mine. Given this:
I was surprised to see Stewball, which I know as a song about a horse who won a race and a lot of money (usually titled as Skewball), but then I realized you probably meant the Peter, Paul, and Mary version which changes the viewpoint character. Speaking of such songs, do you know Richard Thompson’s 1952 Vincent Black Lightning?
Something like a once-in-a-lifetime experiment… And to think the Aussies missed the moment in 2000!
I didn’t know that an abundance of Latvians is a red flag for the NSA. I suppose I should review all my friends lists! (And all of you – be warned!)
iJoe @55, please try talking to someone in the registrar’s office — assistant registrar maybe — and ask what, if anything, can be done to help you meet your goals. They may have a solution or a best path to follow, e.g. whose other credits they’ll accept or part-time attendance, etc.
Site warnings:. I did get a warning several days ago about adware on Pharyngula and my AVG software neutralized it.
Swarming stinging peas are not an improvement.
I’m dangerous at those. I have to only bring a small amount of money with me or I’ll walk out with half the things there. Especially if they have records and CDs as well…
Collected all the fucking data.
Ran ALL the ANOVAs (2-way, for the record).
Statistically significant to p ≤ 0.001.
BOO YAH.
Yay!!! Esteleth. This calls for some *champagne&sparkles*
Congratulations!!
UnknownEric
I know what you mean… Less about the records and CDs, but definitely about walking away with half (or more) of the stuff.
*champagne&fireworks* for Esteleth.
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Ogvorbis
That sounds like a really awesome show, and I’m sad I’m going to miss it. Good luck and have fun!!! I hope the crowd loves you!!
So I tweeted this: “The worst part of bragging about how you got significance to p ≤ 0.001 is how few people get why that’s super-cool.”
And promptly @lousycanuck replied, “Try expressing it in percentage chance of being right, instead. Way more impressive to layfolk.”
But that takes math, Jason! There’s no “convert to percentage-chance-of-accuracy” button in Prism!”
(okay, fine)
Something that is statistically significant to p ≤ 0.001 has a 99.9% chance of being correct.
Yay Esteleth!
Love the sniny new ‘nym adjunct. Well-earned.
BTW, why is FTB backdating nym adjustments? Comments I posted last week (when I was still “the most calossal nerd on Pharyngula”) are now statistically significant to p ≤ 0.001.
One of the verses:
I bet on the gray mare,
I bet on the bay,
If I’d have bet on old Stewball,
I’d be a free man today.
Not familiary with Richard Thompson. I’ll check your link when I can.
These are sugar snap peas. Eaten raw or stir fried. Delicious.
I noticed that about a week ago. I am now Ogvorbis all the way back to the beginning.
‘Cause FTB Took A Level In Suck.
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With this new feature of FtB, we could really, really, really screw with people’s minds. I become cicely, cicely becomes rq, rq becomes Esteleth, Esteleth becomes Nigel, etc. It would back date it through the entire history of FtB and would make going back and looking at old threads even more nonsensical than some are now.
Congrats, Esteleth!
Seconded.
My nyms weren’t terribly interesting, but they help me get a better sense of when I participated in some conversations than just looking at the year. (if that makes sense to anyone but me)
Oh, it does make sense. My ‘nym changed quite a bit as I waded through the hell of memories coming back. Some of my breakthrough moments were when people challenged the extraneous shit I added on the end — broken, failure, etc. — and showed why my view of myself was wrong.
Ogvorbis:
That is devious!
Beatrice, I agree. It’s like they (excuse me, They) context-stripped the sub-plotting.
–
But am I Ogvorbis?
That’s great, Esteleth! Need a lab assistant? I’m crap at setting the experiments up, but I can do basic lab procedure like nobody’s business.
Ogvorbis
Yeah. I’m more familiar with the Andy Irvine version, also called “Plains of Kildare”, where the last verse is:
The last winning post, Stewball passed it quite handy
Horse and rider both called for sherry wine and brandy
And they drank up a health to the noble grey mare
For she emptied their pockets on the Plains of Kildare.
or Steeleye Span’s
Past the winning post bold Skewball drew quite handy
Horse and rider both ordered sherry wine and brandy
And then they drank the health of the gallant Miss Griselda
And all that lost their money on the sporting plains of Kildare
There’s loads of specific variants, but they’re all substantially the same. The names of the horses vary, with the winning horse being Stewball, Skewball, or Skewbald, and the opposing grey mare being nameless, Molly, or Griselda. The songs are initially based on an actual horse (records from the time give his name as Squball or Skewball), who won a race in Kildare in the 18th century against, among others, a grey mare, whose name has not survived. (Sorry for the lengthy digression; as I said in another thread, my pedantry knows no bounds, and folk music is something of a passion of mine. )
Perhaps we are all Ogvorbis!
–
Sorry, no. My job is ending in December, and all that.
The nym backdating thing bugs me, because I like being able to see what sort of thing was on my mind at a given point. Yeah, my addons have all been things like “neither a dog nor a ferret” and such, but yet I like tracking them.
Dalillama:
Thanks. I will include that in the introduction.
cicely:
But if you are all Ogvorbis, who am I?
Esteleth:
Please tell me that your current lab assistant did not come via We-R-Igors?
Trying.to.stay.awake.for.FtBCon
I don’t have an assistant.
From a purely-technical view, the backdating of ‘nyms makes sense. WordPress probably keeps a single table of users, and updates the display name when there’s a change. Pages are built dynamically when viewed, so each view pulls the current display name for that user.
It’s a suck implementation, but it’s simple and reliable, and doesn’t rely on tracking each change in the display name.
From a user point of view, it’s the suck.
possibly-Ogvorbis:
We are the
BorgPharynguhorde.Resistance is measured in ohms.
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Oh, and if you don’t have a website linked, clicking on your nym just takes you to the top of whatever page it is you’re on. Silly.
Then what have you been doing with all of that money stollen from the poor honest oil millionaires?
Not at ohm. At owrk.
Paying of medical debt, yourself?
Oh, I’m not one of those science research people making $10 million a year at the public teat. I’m just a mild mannered bureaucrat destroying jobs and oppressing real Americans.
Though I did manage to pay off the debt we acquired trying to get a diagnosis for Boy’s developmental disability — twenty years later. And that was with insurance.
In other news, my personal FB is currently featuring a debate on whether or not Jesus would know what a fish fry is.
I made the argument that if you accept the arguments that Jesus was the son of god, and the whole “god-in-three-persons” argument, and that god is omniscient, then Jesus must know about fish fries.
The person I’m arguing with is a devout Catholic. It is a very strange conversation.
Signal boost, if you all don’t mind. I know a lot of you follow WilloNyx on twitter, but might not check your twitter accounts often. She’s in dire need of assistance to get some hearing aids to be able to keep her job; there are details on her twitter page a little ways down. If you think you know her name but aren’t sure from where, her blog is also linked to at the top of her twitter feed.
She knows her mind all right, your Auntie Griselda
p ≤ 0.001? Huh. In some of my most recent experiments, I got p < 00000000000000022. Admittedly, these are simulation experiments, and p is the probability the results are drawn from a normal distribution!
Seriously, congrats! I hope this helps you get a new and more secure job.
I think we should backtrack-‘nym-change all of Pharyngula, just for fun.
And it is the suck.
But alas, time zones and bed calls, too bad for me and FtBCon.
Also, I too volunteer to be an Esteleth lab assistant, should the opportunity ever arise. *crosses fingers and waits* :)
Good night!
Oh, and before I bed-flounce:
[trivia] At our wedding, the priest mistakenly identified Husband as Igor, even though that is not his real name… three times, until the Best Man pointed out that that is not Husband’s name. Some hilarity ensued (Do you know who you’re married to?). He managed to get it right for the vows. :P Church weddings with old priests, I’m tellin’ ya… [/trivia]
Carlie
in this case, Miss Griselda is the opposing horse.\
Ogvorbis
I don’t have my copy of Lomax handy just now, but I have a bit of history on a few others if you’re interested:
The Cruise of the Callabar (modified for the D&H canal): Has the earmarks of a tall-tale song, probably not based on real events. Mid to late 19thc.
The E-RI-E Canal: See Cruise of the Calabar, above.
Railroad Bill: The nickname given to a black drifter who rode the rails of Alabama and Florida in the 1890s with a rifle. He robbed a number of trains and killed several lawmen who pursued him. Popular legend has it that he would distribute or resell at low prices the goods he got from his theivery to impoverished blacks in the area, giving him something of a Robin Hood reputation. He was gunned down by authorities in 1896, his real name unknown.
Joe Hill: is a personal hero of mine, and I doubt very much that you need any education from me about him.
Pretty Boy Floyd: Like Railroad Bill, an outlaw with a Robin Hood reputation, active in Oklahoma during the depression. The song takes a very sympathetic tone towards his exploits, which are in fact pretty violent. Like a number of other bank robbers from the era with similar folk-hero status, it comes from massive public ill-will towards the banks due to foreclosures etc.
Hard Travelin’:Woody Guthrie sings about being Woody Guthrie. I also recommend Andy Irvine’s tribute to Guthrie, Never Tire of The Road.
Wreck of the Old 97: Happened at Stillhouse Trestle in 1903.
The rest are mid-century country, folk, or rock ballads, mostly made up from whole cloth, with the obvious exceptions of Jesse James and Billy the Kid, although the songs themselves are still from the mid 20th. (I apologize if I’m telling you things you already know, incidentally)
Esteleth:
I wondered about the nym link bit. Mine links to my FB page, but I do not recall setting it up that way.
Do you sign in via facebook?
I think dinner might be a bit late tonight. The next-door neighbor, who braids the Redhead’s hair every so often, father died this week. The Redhead is talking to her after she hung up the hanging flowers we sent. I suspect a lot of things need to be talked about. Good thing I don’t have to work tomorrow.
I like Christopher Moore’s books.
I don’t think any of his characters are particularly likeable.
The female protagonist in Sacre Bleu is fucking evil.
So I didn’t see his treatment of her as misogyny.
Chigau
I don’t know, I found the protagonists of Fluke to be pretty likable, and Theo Crowe and Molly Michon are decent sorts as well.
I must squee! Today I got a brand new keyboard to my 6 year old laptop (HP Compaq nx7300, it wasn’t one of the fastest ones even then, but it was built to last) and it’s exquisite as it was anew. It survived six years of hard wear, breadcrumbs, sticky bits of pot and the occasional beer bath, and the new one will certainly survive the the rest of the lifetime of this piece of machinery.
SQUEE.. I’m hearing from grumbles from the storm proceeding our ten degree top in temperature. Not soon enough….
But the gravatar remains the same…
That’s too creepy.
Thanks for the sympathy and hugs folks. I’ve been invited to his memorial, which, appropriately enough, is going to be up on Mount Buffalo. I hope it’s at a time when I can ride there, that would be fitting.
Dalillama!
Seeing Richard Thompson play that song in a solo, acoustic concert was one of the most sublime musical experiences I’ve had. I was a +1 for my friend Pete and knew nothing about RT. I enjoyed the first couple of songs but then he played VBL and all I could do was turn to Pete and gape. Pete had this big, shit eating grin and later admitted that he hadn’t talked up the show because he wanted to see my face when I realised how good RT was. Guitar chops out the wazzoo, song and solo structures that often subvert the stereotypical and yet somehow work, emotional singing, good story telling, and an engaging* stage presence, it really was fantastic.
*I’m told that RT can be a bit inconsistent in concert, if he’s not feeling it he’s apparently not shy about showing it. YMMV.
Great! Seeing a seven degree drop in temperature in a few minutes. How does one spell R-E-L-I-E-F?
Shakes fist at Mother Nature *need another 0.5 inches of rain*.
Rq @185, did you tell the Barbie-apologists that Barbie is based on a sexy toy doll that used to be handed around in German bars to amuse the drunks? See “Bild Lilli.”
Beatrice @132:
Try again! Beatrice @132:
People who oppose abortion forget that we calmly teach about the great Roman empire, with its tradition of displaying each newborn child to its father and his right to choose whether to pick it up and welcome it into the family or to turn away and leave it to die. Frankly, I think abortion is kinder.
‘rupt, but I was reading the discussion about books and have a book event to announce today. I finished The Carpathian Castle by Jules Verne, which a friend gave me. It was a long slog and I’m less than impressed. If that makes me a Philistine, so be it.
I’m much more excited about starting on Drift, by Rachel Maddow, which I finally got my hands on. (And yes, I mean that literally, because I’m a dead-tree-book person. I understand all the reasons people like e-readers, but I just can’t stand reading on a screen if I can avoid it. And I love the feel of having a book in my purse to pull out. I stare at a screen long enough as it is).
Also, I don’t know what to do about this client who has emailed me 10 times in the last two days urging me to take actions in his case that I have explicitly told him I don’t want to take because it won’t help and may harm his cause. I just…I don’t know what else to tell him. Gah.
carlie:
Ooooh, yes, exactly. There’s actually a booksale at my mom’s library in the morning, we’re going to find some treasures. I supposed there are sometimes e-books on sale, but it’s just not the same ^_^
Obviously a True Beliver™ who doesn’t care about the facts. Just show him/her your bill in case they don’t succeed,and what they must pay the opponenra lawyer’s fee’, however they are distributed in your are….
Resistance is measured, both at ohm and at owrk.
I find that said resistance is louder at ohm than at owrk, but Your Mileage May Vary.
The experiment is repeatable, but there are variables.
–
*pouncehug* for Weed Monkey, and congrats on the Joys of New Keyboard Ownership.
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Fucking blackflies.
I knew I shouldn’t have taken the bait my obtuse* stepdad laid out re: Trayvon Martin. So why did I do it? I just got ridiculously upset. He brought up the disproportionate incarceration statistics, and said incredulously “And you’re saying that’s because of racism?!” I may have shouted when I said “YES.”
*Obtuse is the kindest word I can think of right now.
Portia – good luck!
We’re quite limited in funds right now, but did select a handful of things we couldn’t leave without. The fun part is being around so many other people who also love books: seeing kids squee out loud at finding just the right one, having someone next to you chime in on your conversation about whether the series you’re looking at is good enough to keep reading, seeing someone sitting on the ground outside the tents surrounded by piles, happily checking their own spreadsheets they brought with them to make sure they weren’t getting any duplicates.
Ooooh, forgot to say:
Three cheers for Giliell!
*hugs* and grog for FossilFishy.
carlie:
That description makes me even more excited about tomorrow :)
We’re going to yard sale too, if we’re lucky. There are a lot of uupper middle class people around here who have cheap sales. Lots of scores to be had :D
Oooo, yard saling! I’m lazy about it – don’t like going unless it’s a high-traffic day like a neighborhood sale where everybody is doing it at once. :) But sooo much fun!
Yeah, we’re more or less gonna keep an eye out on the way to the library :) I do love yard saling so much.
That brings up images of my youth prior to the downhill slide. I remember pretending to be a boat tacking against the wind across the front lawn. And it has an odd literary connection in that one of the characters in Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons did the same thing at the beginning of the book. No doubt were I got the idea from. /wallowing in unusually good nostalgia
FossilFishy:
:) I love it when nostalgia is so sweet.
Nerd @366:
I usually remain signed in, so I do not always log in…not sure to be honest, but it is quite possible.
Whew!
Fewer fleas on Krystal.
Only a handful on my kitties.
Have never bombed my home before.
How does that work?
Tomorrow my uncle’s gonna take me to the driving range so I can hopefully avoid embarrassing myself at the bar association golf outing in a couple weeks. I wasn’t going to play but then a partner at a local firm asked me to round out their foursome so here I go, diving outside my comfort zone!
Me too Portia, all the more so considering its rarity. As an indulgence and a spur to that feeling I just bought myself some ripple chips and french onion dip. Another fond memory I have was being allowed that as a treat, usually when my parents were having a party. And even better was later that night when I would sneak out after bedtime and have MORE!!1!! while my parents were distracted.
FossilFishy:
Omnomnom That is one of my favorite “nothing in this is healthy” snacks. I could gorge myself on it.
Portia
The somewhat shameful gorging is continuing apace, now with added vigour because I’m eating your share too. :)
You know, you’re really killing me today, in a good way.
My first thought on seeing your post about golf was: is that a real thing, corporate golf dates?
My second thought was: Go Portia!
My third thought was: I wonder if that little pitch and putt I used to go to in my yoofths is still there? And it is! I was never any good, I’d lose a lot of balls, it would always rain but it was a lot of fun. I even got a hole in one on the third hole. The seventh hole has a house behind it where the grounds keepers? owners? lived. I never managed to hit it, but those who did were legendary amongst my friends.
I think I may in fact be wallowing in nostalgia at this point.
Ripple chips?
Sounds similar to Ruffles…
***?
All of a sudden, I recalled the ‘Shake N Bake’ commercial from the 90’s.
“It’s shake n bake. And I helped!” said the child actor/actress.
(Is ‘actor’ a male gendered term? Or can it apply to any gender?)
Tony, a *hug* for you for your Thunderdome writing.
Yup, Tony. Ripple chips is a generic reference to the wavy ones with the structural integrity to withstand dipping while Ruffles is a brand of that type.
I’m pretty sure that using actor for any gender is now an accepted usage.
Ripple chips and onion dip. Mmmmmmm…
Probably not a healthy breakfast food.
+++
Vampires!
Good morning
*hugs and snuggles all around*
No, it’s a well-behaved puppy
+++
rq
You married an Igor? Impressive!
+++
Suffocated newborns?
Well, they found a dead newborn in the woods this week. Born alive, killed after birth. They find one every few years. I don’t doubt there are more who are never found and there are some where the remains will show up in the future. One of my great relifs is to know where the nearest German equivalent of PP clinic is. I’m planning to make very sure the girls know it, too. Because seriously, the thought of another pregnancy and baby give me fucking nightmares.
+++
Oh, btw, remember “Giliell’s quest for a backpack”?
It keeps going on.
So, I demanded that the vendor of the first one takes it back. I bought it via the Amazon marketplace and tried using their system to take the necessary steps. According to Amazon the vendor should reply within two days. That was last Tuesday.
In the meantime I found another one from a different shop. this time I went for one made by a company that has its main business in outdoor equipment so I figured out they would know how to construct a backpack suitable for carrying largish weights. And I even found a model that is last year’s colour so it comes with a nice 35% sale tag. Ordered it, paid via paypal.
Half an hour later I got mail “Sorry, something went wrong while processing your data, please order again, here’s a 5€ voucher for your pains”. No problem. Who doesn’t like to get 5 bucks for the equivalent of 120seconds work? And the I saw that both transactions had been deducted from my paypal. Wrote them a mail. “oops, sorry. We cancel the surplus order and here’s your money back”. So I got the higher first price back. But they still sent it twice.
But it is exactly what I’m looking for in a backpack: laptop compartment, big main compartment for block,folder, books, smaller one for breakfast, two nets on the sides where I can put my teabottles. And it’s a nice baby-blue :)
Giliell
I almost married an Igor. ;) If I had, I wouldn’t be married to Husband (not legally, really – I could contest it, at any rate… if I wanted to). Not enough of a hunchback to fit the image.
Dead newborns used to be a fairly ‘common’ thing here (I say ‘common’ because it wasn’t just one or two a year, but several), but numbers have been reduced due to the installation of a Baby Box in a couple of the hospitals in the capital (and now several in regional hospitals, too). Leave the newborn, no questions asked, completely anonymously… I’m convinced it has saved a few lives.
Recently there was talk of removing the anonymity factor in order to prosecute the mothers for abandonment of parental duties or some such, but there was a lot of outcry against it and the subject was dropped. (A good thing.)
Husband and I are being spontaneous, packing up the kids and going here.
/returns *pouncehugs* to cicely (I’ve always pronounced your nym in my mind the easiest way, si-si-li)
*intends to pouncehug several people*
*quietly drops on the floor*
O hai! I’m legally insane all weekend! Listened to the entire conference live, in bed, all the way to 7 am. Now it’s almost 1 pm, and at 3 pm the conference resumes – the meatspace part of the day probably needs to be done by then. kthxbai
…There is no telling how much I love the URL http://www.ahhaa.ee, or the fact that a science center is called AHHAA.
Fucking ravens.
Thanks :)
And yes, corporate golf dates are very much a thing, ha. I’ve felt for a while now that I should learn to golf simply because it’s how so many members of my field socialize.
—
In other news, my Asshole Grandpa is still an asshole. He feels the authority to interrogate me like I’m a fucking five year old, not a fellow adult. He just gave me a whiny speech about how “we used to be friends when you were younger” …yeah that’s because I saw your patronizing as just how adults treated kids. But it never stopped. Gawds.
Oooh, almost forgot: I got a dozen books for $9.50 at the booksale. I’m very pleased.
Have fun, rq!
I seem to recall that ravens, before they commence fucking, do some awesome coordinated aerial acrobatics.
Or is that eagles?
Here, a raven was fucked up by a porcupine, and is helped by a human.
http://youtu.be/hlwxLtFQcrY
Because, y’know, opposable thumbs.
Ravens are awesome. Even my wife, who hates birds, loves ravens.
Ravens play games. One of the clinic buildings in Sitka has a metal roof. One raven would fly to the top with a pebble, and drop it down one side. The other ravens lined up in a gauntlet and lunged at the pebble as it skittered down the roof.
Other times, I’ve seen one fly rather high with a morsel of food, and drop the food, and other ravens would dive at it, grab it before it hit the ground, fly higher into the air, and drop it as the first one had.
Ravens are awesome.
This talk of birds has me wondering why Hollywood has not remade The Birds. I do not want them to, but it is surprising in this era of the remake.
****
Menyambal:
Thank you.
****
Are a lot of you participating in FtBCon?
Hobby Lobby, the company that thinks corporations have religious beliefs that should be protected, won a sort-of victory in court yesterday.
The Hill link.
Does anyone need rain?
I will have a chat with Mother Nature later and implore her to send all this wetness to your location. Just send me a S.A.S.E. with $10K and you can get lots of rain.
Governor Rick Scott of Florida is not interested in rescinding the state’s “stand your ground” law, but he does have a solution: prayer.
Add this to the list of stuff Republicans do to look good while they actually do nothing to solve problems.
Excerpt from the proclamation:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/19/florida-governor-sets-day-of-prayer-for-unity/
It’s called Birdemic.
“They” are trying, according to The Pfffft! of All Knowledge:
I once heard a definition of actor that was (paraphrasing from memory) “Anyone, female or male, who can play Shakespeare.” And an actress was “a girl who takes her clothes off in a movie”. The person doing the “defining” is a well-respected Shakespearian actor (female), so I suspect there was a bit of bias there (to go with the obvious ambiguity and lack of completeness) — but she was quite clear that “actor” had evolved into a non-gendered term.
Tony: I wish it worked that way. We’re in year bazillion of a drought. If we thought it was possible, I’m sure I could raise the money locally (if nothing else from people with yard gardens.)
A Canadair/Bombardier waterbomber just flew overhead. Hire some to deliver the rain. Also, I think the last remaining operational Martin Mars waterbomber is available…
(No, there is not a fire in the area (that I know of). They are just practising scooping up water from the Mediterranean. I happen to live under one of several approach routes they use to “land”.)
Who wants a Veronica Mars movie.
Tony,
I haven’t watched the whole series, but I have seen a large part and loved it. While I am generally suspicious of movie versions, this one looks nice, mostly because the actors look like they had so much fun making it.
I’ll watch it.
Spotted at Bad Science:
Whilst the above quote is from the Daily Fail, it fits an established pattern of Mr Windsor not comprehending the democratic process whilst also being oblivious to reality.
The mildly deranged penguin is wondering what the sentient-but-stoopid tunnelling cider is doing. Or for that matter, just where it is. There has been an increase in fumes emitting from the tunnel’s entrance, which she (and I) presumed from it being somewhere near, or enroute to, Ingerland, to watch the cricket. It is, after all, the Ashes, which means Ingerland now have a splendid opportunity to try out their newest and hopefully most hilarious ways of loosing a game.
The Ashes are an attempt to avoid getting the burnt remnants of some British Industrial Cheddar exported to Ozland a century or so ago. The Ozlanders did something sensible and burnt the shipment, albeit the waste is so toxic they’ve been trying to get rid of it ever since. And the Inglanders don’t want it back, hence the frequent wars-by-proxy called “Teh Ashes”.
So desperate is Ozland not to get the remnants back (Ingerland were silly enough to “win” them back in the last few attempts), they have taken to playing like Ingerland. This has so befuddled Ingerland they have been unable to avoid establishing a massive lead in the current game, so unless they have some new and as-yet-undeployed method of losing, they might actually win the game (and thus be in danger of winning the series and hence having to keep the toxic waste urn).
The sentient-but-stoopid should be watching all this with interest, but we’re a bit puzzled if it is, or where it is doing so. The mildly deranged penguin sampled some of the fumes from the tunnel. It apparently tasted like pan-fired Mastodon-with-a-lemon-and-chilli seasoning, which is not very informative. She wasn’t able to identify which chillies, but thinks the lemon was yellow.
Because of my stupidity and fucking around with extension cords I now have a freezer full of inedible last season blueberries, Baltic herring and cow beestings I wanted to use for a really fancy pancake. As a first aid measure I refroze everything, but it’s going to take some time to throw everything out, recover the boxes and clean.
Try it, it’s sublime.
I agree that ravens are awesome but I wish they’d keep their opinions to themselves at 5 AM.
ABC social experiment catches racial profiling on camera
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Then you have done well, Leaf-hopper.
:)
–
*pouncehugging* the floor-flopped Marjanović
So what’s wrong with being legally insane on weekdays?
–
My brother tells me of seeing Japanese ravens cooperating to raid the garbage; different types of garbage are left bagged separately on the curb, and people put the food waste on the bottom, to keep the scavengers off. In response, the ravens will work in teams to shift the upper bags enough that another one can go in, tear open the food bag, and haul a bunch of stuff out that they then all eat.
I think they’ll be crows or rooks; ravens are notoriously late-sleepers ;-)
AoS
I’m at 63°N and these things have a wingspan of over 1 metre.
They’re ravens.
My haul from the library sale. :D
I also got two new peasant sundresses at a bazaar, from a vendor with great prices. Looove them.
Swimming with the nieces and nephews, lovely day of reading and napping….I am getting really refreshed.
Hi, all. Threadrupt.
Did the concert at Zane Grey Days at Upper Delaware National Scenic and Recreational River in Lackawaxen, PA. It was hot (not as hot as at home, but a heat index of 105F).
Did two 40 minute sets (playing and information about the songs). The rewrite I did for The Good Ship Callabar went over quite well. A woman asked me where I found that version. My reply? “I did it myself.” She was impressed. Apparently, she is easily impressed.
Just smoked a Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur corona and had two fingers of Dewar’s White Label. Excellent. Listened to Bach’s St. John’s Passion while enjoying the vice.
It is supposed to cool down to 64F tonight and tomorrow should only be 80F.
Wife is working tonight. A 60th anniversary gig for a local high school. She was supposed to be done by 8:30pm. It is now pushing 9:00 and they have (thanks to a historian giving a power point presentation about the history of the area of the high school (he was doing it historian style — here is a photo, I will now spend 15 minutes telling you everything about it — not using the photos to help illustrate a story (NPS style))) only just begun to clean up and get everything set up for tomorrow’s Sunday lunch buffet.
I had a couple of scout dreams last night. Really bad dreams. But they seem to be affecting me the same way that the 9/11 dreams hit me — really scary, I wake up in terror, realize that I am safe, and back to sleep. I didn’t spend the next three hours torturing myself.
Watching the Tour de France (taped delay). Today is a mountain stage, finishing with a beyond category climb. Cruel. Not sure I could drive it, much less go up on a bicycle.
I stayed up last night to watch that stage live. It rocked, enjoy. (I won’t go into why for obvious spoilage reasons) And now I’m so tired I really shouldn’t be playing with power tools, but promises were made…
Ogvorbis
Good to hear on pretty much all counts, there; nightmares are bad, but at least it sounds like the seffects are less bad than before.
I spent much of my day holding down the desk at the tool library due to a lack of volunteers; even coffee and donuts won’t bring the lazy bastards in apparently, although that’s new as of last week, so the word may not have gotten around all the way yet.
*confetti&fireworks&champagne&cheese*
–
Careful with the power tools, FossilFishy! You need all your bits.
Well, apart from the non-essential organs, that is. Take gall bladders (please!), for instance…
Hand me that saw, will ya?
–
Especially for power drills. Without drill bits, drills are rather useless.
I wonder…would drilling be my better approach to the problem?
–
Have you met any drillers?
Well, there is my dentist . . . .
G’night, all.
So.
Was in the Immigration panel on FTBCon. And – again – the YouTube comments features discussion of cats.
Nairo Quintana is a beast. He’s got a cool story too.
Been pulling for him all tour.
Ogvorbis:
I’m sorry you had bad dreams but I’m happy for the improvement.
Is it stupid that I’m finding online dating discouraging only a week in? :/
I though stripping the serfs was kindof frowned on thesedays?
blf, what stripping?
(Peasants may be heavy, but they’re wearable)
Beatrice @422:
I love Veronica Mars but have never seen the second season. I recently rewatched all of the first season and loved it as much as watching it first run. That is one show that should easily pass the Bechdel Test.
****
Looking for the silver lining on my transportation issue is not that difficult. In fact, I do not even view it as a silver lining. I have shared some of my cab stories and I can honestly say that getting to listen to the varied cab drivers I have had has been incredibly interesting. If I remember correctly, I have had 3 black men, 1 black woman, 2 white women, and 3 or 4 white men as drivers (obviously, I have gotten repeat drivers a few times). Tonight was no exception to interestung conversation. I had a white guy, @50 who inquired about my feelings on the Zimmerman trial. I shared pretty much the same stuff I have said here, though it was abbreviated for time. During the conversation, the subject of privilege came up (I was trying to explain why race was an issue in this trial in a way that someone blind to institutionalized racism could understand*). We went off on a few tangents related to race (what about all the black people who died in City x? Non sequitor, not relevant to the discussion), one of which I was glad to briefly dip into. The driver mentioned how he listened to people for years and one thing he was sure of is that black people (really it was black WOMEN) have more children out of wedlock and that was one of the things holding blacks back. I realized he had not read any of the stuff I have, and that his opinion was formed by listening to people, I told him that just because he heard the same statement from multiple sources did not make it true. I told him truth is not determined by the number of people who believe something and that he should verify whether they are telling the truth. When he tried to interject, I just pointed out that he has no way of knowing that he has been told the truth if he does not verify for himself.
At which point I turned back to the Zimmerman case to make the final point that race was relevant bc of Zimmermans 911 call history, as well as his comments.
As I got out of the car he thanked me for having an intellectual conversation about a subject.
I felt kinda good on multiple fronts.
The primary being the skeptical front.
If something I say gives someone pause to think about a truth claim, or if it plants a seed of doubt in someone, that gives me hope.
Hope that what little I have learned, especially with regard to truth claims, can be passed on and benefit others.
So yeah, silver lining.
*of late, I have found myself wanting to explain things to others, but lack time. Does anyone have a handy, quick response to explain patriarchy or privilege, or any number of other issues (it need not be one I have discussed…if you have developed a handy, shorthand way of describing an important concept, I would love to hear)
****
Once again, I have this community to thank for opening my eyes to so much and the friendliness and willingness so many have to educate and inform; I want to add that the contributions of some may only be in The Lounge, but that is no less informative and/or educational than arguments in the latest sexism related thread. Many are the links i have read that broadened my horizon; and THAT is valuable.
I have to add another bright spot. Over the course of the last two days, three people have generously offered to assist me in transportation. One of my cab drivers said he would be more than happy to work out a deal with me for transport at a lower rate. Two of the servers at my restaurant, upon hearing the expenses offered to take me home whenever they could help.
I got kinda choked up in each case. I have log been the guy to offer help when I hear someone needs it. Regulars here know how much I did for T without asking for anything. The prideful, independent part of me grudgingly accepts help when offered, but it isn’t without “are you sure?” or “I do not want to put you out”. I need to train myself to accept help from others. When offered with no strings, out of the kindness of someones heart, that is a gift. We all need help sometimes, and I may be accustomed to giving the help, but I need to accept it when it is offered.
Bit too warm for this time of year, need to feed them (and — very important — potty-train them), and there’s the problem of where to keep them at night (just too heavy for the hangers in the wardrobe). Whilst peasants show up every now and then on the fashion show catwalk, you’re more likely to find people wearing dinosaur fur loincloths then peasants thesedays.
Global consciousness: look at that!
+++
Well, the science centre yesterday was a bit smaller than it looked in pictures, but it was certainly impressive. I rode a bike across a tightrope, saw a Wilson’s cloud chamber (which, for some reason, was a lot of food for thought), and realized I am horribly out of shape (they had a bunch of those exercise bikes and machines where you can light up lightbulbs or see how many calories you’re burning and stuff, and I got on one, and had heart palpitations for 20 minutes afterward).
Oh, and there was a mirror maze. A small one, but I’ve always wanted to try one, like in horror movies (the kids almost got lost, hee hee).
re: wearing peasants
John Cadiz has some great cartoons about the Wilds of Canada, including one captioned “Canadian fur lobby wins: fur lovers must now wear the entire animal, alive.”
Pictured: a woman lugging a bison with very wide eyes, asking it, “You have to go prairies again?” in frustration.
rq:
How goes it over there?
Good morning
Um, wow.
I like porn.
Usually the gay kind, but occasionally heterosexual porn interests me.
I did not expect, in my online searches, to come across PG pictures of a very good looking gay rights activist and politician! There is no nudity, so I am reasonably certain this is safe for work (the site itself is gay porn, but I think the link is just to pics of this guy, but just to be safe, treat this as NSFW).
I think I just sat there, jaw dropped, muttering ‘whoa’ about 7, 8, or 30 times.
http://www.queerclick.com/archive/2013/07/perhaps_the_sexiest_politicians_ever_bri.php
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Good morning Beatrice :)
Tony
Whoa. He is yummy looking!
WMDKitty:
One of the many things I have learned as I have gotten older is that there isn’t a certain type of guybI am attracted to. I remember when I first came out, I was quick to rattle off ‘my type’, but I eventually came to realize that I have been attracted to a variety of men. In addition, I started feeling as if I was somehow settling by liking a guy ‘not my type’. With that feeling came the realizatiin that I have liked many guys, often for different reasons and it is somewhat insulting to think of Guy #1 as ‘my type’, but not #2, even though I would still go out with #2. That led me to accepting that I like what I like and to an outsider, the fact that I often comment on the buff guys on the beach might mean that is my type, but if you were to ask me, I would say that is one of many kinds of men I like.
(Kinda rambling there. I never really expressed any of that, and it was nice to get it out)
But is he wearable?
*swoons*
Ok, he just got even more attractive!
Would that more politicians felt the same way!
The link also has a pic with him in a “This is what a feminist looks like” t shirt.
Triple swoon….
(Ok, I think I am done)
Heh heh, just wait til Beatrice sees the above :)
Nope, sorry, wrong planet. Whilst sun three is admittedly just below the horizon at the moment, suns one, two, and four are all quite visible. There won’t be one of those ridiculous “nights” for several more centuries. Besides, that’s an absurd legend; you need constant sunlight or else you’ll turn into several vampires’s zombies and a cherry cream pie.
I know this is a sentence that can spawn a thousand puns, but I have to comment: “That’s a huge dog!” (Tony’s first link, fourth photo)
—–
I like that statement, Tony, but now it makes me think… Wouldn’t it make sense to swear on the constitution to uphold it? Since what you are swearing on needs to be something you hold in high regard*.
*so everyone swearing on the Bible** makes loads of sense *eyeroll*
**wait, how is that even ok with the whole “freedom from religion” thing, since it holds one religion above others?
—-
Don’t you hate it when wordpress logs you out while you’re writing a comment, so that when you try to submit it you get the “You need to be signed in to post a comment” message? /rhetorical
Beatrice:
Thats a really good point. I wonder why too.
(And yes, I friggin hate when WordPress does that).
Tony, that man is good looking, indeed. He’s handsome and hunky, without being pretty.
Speaking of pretty, I just watched part of _Une Parisienne_ from 1957. I had to Google a bit to figure out it was Brigitte Bardot looking so “sex kitten” as they seemed to call it then. I’d heard of her, of course. There’s some distinguished-looking and well-dressed men in there, too. (For what it’s worth, I also looked up the jet airplane (it’s a Morane-Saulnier Fleuret, and there’s a glimpse of a Fouga Magister). There’s a website for movie airplanes!)
No answer for the question, but a quick search turns this up:
Tony you definitely rock. And I love hearing about your conversations with people.
.
Ogvorbis, sorry there were nightmares but very glad to hear they didn’t linger this time. That sounds pretty significant.
.
I wouldn’t mind if we had more politicians who held attitudes like that … gay rights activist, feminist, opposed to church privilege, what’s not to love?
Beatrice, I’ve been snarling about worshipping Bibles over in Thunderdome. Txpiper is back.
_Trumpet Voluntary_ played on a mountain dulcimer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUYTrP7_ulU
I just mentioned seeing a jet airplane in a movie. They had the engine sound wrong.
Tony,
Oh, I like her! Her act can’t be criticized without one showing how little they actually value US Constitution.
I know this is a sentence that can call forth a thousand peas
I know this is a sentence that can churn a thousand groans
Puns know this sentence can spawn a thousand amateur cynics
This sentence can spawn a thousand knowing groans
(Nope, sorry am having trouble here, the pun extruder seems borked.)
Good morning
Too sad I have totally no time for FtBCon this weekend :(
+++
Portia
Congarats on hunting success
+++
So, this week, while chatting nervously before the exam the topic came towards makeup. Better said about the fact that it has happened to several of us have made the experience that on a day we wore no make-up somebody very preoccupiedly asked us whether we were ill or feeling well.
I mean, WTF? It’s nice that you worry about our wellbeing, but since when does “not wearing make-up” indicate “being ill”?
+++
So, yesterday I set out to make #1’s start of school dress.
Now i knew it would be a challenge since the design she picked wasn’t a good choice for the fabric, because it’s a light jersey strech and a quite dense design. But it went reasonable well until…
Well, apparently the powerline wasn’t reall plugged in and halfway into the design I lost power.
Aaaaaargh. And of course I had flipped and repositioned and resized the design and of course I had NOT saved the changes.
Managed to save it, but I tell you, my heart stopped for a moment….
I don’t think that, at least most of the time, whoever worries about your health has even consciously noticed you don’t have make-up – or more probably, that you were wearing make-up all those other times. That’s the thing with the natural look achieved with make-up, the one a lot of women choose for every day. People have gotten so used to this “natural” look, that they start believing that is our actual face, and don’t even notice make-up unless it’s bright colors or heavy linings.
It’s a WTF situation, definitely.
I can quickly get heavy bags under my eyes, a couple of nights of bad sleep are enough, so I probably do look a bit ill when I don’t cover them. Especially with my whiter than white skin color.
My mistake. I guess the ones I’m most used to – the resident flock at the Tower of London – have gotten lazy; maybe because they don’t need to fend for themselves, just wait for the tourists to turn up from 9am :-)
Its been so hot I bought some ready-to-drink Gazpacho and am having that for lunch whilst I wait for Ozland to finish imploding in today’s Ash Comedy Routine. Decent, but typical French blandness. And smooth.
I like my Gazpacho chunky with heaps of tomatoes, garlic, chillies — sort of a semiliquidized salsa. This stuff is too liquid and isn’t even close to proper spiciness. Can’t do much (with what is on-hand) about the lack of chunks, but I can attack the lack of spice: I’ve been dumping in several metric fecktons of assorted hot sauces (having run out of onions and garlic to layer on top). A ratio of c.1:5 Death Sauce:Gazpacho seems to work nicely.
I should perhaps try making some Gazpacho from scratch. Which, for some reason, reminds me, I haven’t made any Vichyssoise in yonks…
Boy has come up with a new possible ultimate poultry dinner. You’ve heard of the turducken, right? A boneless chicken, stuffed, inside of a boneless duck inside a boneless turkey? He wants to create a penturducken. A turducken stuffed insided a boned penguin.
Last night, Boy and I had dinner at a Chinese buffet. And after we sat down, the place was invaded by godbots. And every one of them had a name tag and, above the name, it read, “God’s Word is TRUTH!” And I wanted, so much, to ask them how they knew what god’s word was? But I didn’t. I’m a wimp.
Ogvorbis:
I think not saying anything may have been good. You were outnumbered and it is possible that asking your question might have created more annoyance than it would have been worth. We all have to pick our battles
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/07/21/us-fighters-drop-unarmed-bombs-on-australia-great-barrier-reef-marine-park-in/Bastards.
(link is to fox news, but at least they quote some very upset Australians)
Ups, “bastards” isn’t actually part of the link, but my observation… Obviously. *blush*
Even with the added bit, the link still goes to the right place, though.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/07/21/us-fighters-drop-unarmed-bombs-on-australia-great-barrier-reef-marine-park-in
I guess the ones I’m most used to – the resident flock at the Tower of London – have gotten lazy – Acolyte of Sagan
The Tower ravens have the flight feathers of one wing clipped to prevent them flying away – they can fly short distances. There’s a legend that if ever the ravens leave the Tower, the Crown will fall. Why British anti-monarchists have never taken the obvious course of action, I don’t know. Much easier than getting an Abolition of the Monarchy Bill through Parliament, let alone getting the royal assent.
The peasant discussion made me guffaw.
—
Tony: That’s really great that people are willing to help. I have the same complex about accepting help, I know exactly what you mean. But you are clearly endearing and kind and people want to help you. Let them! You deserve to have some kindness after all you dole out.
—
Thanks, Giliell!
It’s just a touch rude to me, it usually happens when I’m cranky or tired that people ask how I am like that. The subtext always seems to be “You look like shit.” If I’m particularly cranky or made so by the remark, I say “What a nice thing to say, you look great too.” : /
Whew.
There was a whole mob of them. It was self-preservation.
—
Back outside to play with the three year old niece and nephew. They are the funniest little things, keep me laughing all the time.
Tony, thinking about getting across the idea of privilege in a minute or less.
Everybody’s heard the old adage about “walking a mile in another’s shoes” – what if we need to walk a couple of years in another’s shoes before we really understand what their lives and their problems are really like? Dunno whether it emphasises the fact of difference and disadvantage enough, but something along these lines might do as plan b when there’s not enough time/ too much potential for getting offside with someone unnecessarily.
As for accepting others’ generosity. I’m a smoker so I often give others a free smoke when I’m out and I refuse to accept payment, even from those who insist. I tell them that I’m paying forward – they should do the same when they’re in the position to do it for others. You can accept such offers on the basis that you know that you will give similar help to someone else when the need arises. You don’t need to tell them that, but it will help to make your acceptance less reluctant and your response to them more accepting and gracious.
Moments of Mormon Madness questioned by one of their own:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/us/some-mormons-search-the-web-and-find-doubt.html?pagewanted=all
Watch the video at the top of the article. The guy in the video is, as far as we know, the highest guy from the mormon hierarchy to question mormon church history and dogma. The article could be even more hard hitting (they let church leaders get away with the “every church has these challenges” reply), but all in all it’s pretty good. And it’s on the front page of the New York Times.
Excerpt:
This is related to my post @482. The high mormon mucky muck referenced is Hans Mattsson, a Swede who once oversaw all of of Europe for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The link below leads to a transcript of the meeting in which other high mormon mucky mucks hastened to Sweden to put out the bonfire of questions.
The transcript is instructive, in that the Swedes ask intelligent questions, and the high mucky mucks twist, dodge, tap dance and are incapable of providing any answers.
http://mormonstories.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Turley_Jensen_Stockholm_2010.pdf
You’ll have to read past a lot of “in the spirit of love” and “spirit of the devil” crap to dig out the meat of the discussion. The repeated calls to self-brainwash are disconcerting, as in:
From Salon, a discussion about atheism and women:
http://www.salon.com/2013/07/21/from_hitchens_to_dawkins_where_are_the_women_of_new_atheism/
Tony
That was an amazingly goodlooking man in that link you left.
Sorry I wasn’t around to chat, things have been rainy here and I had to be at work.
+++
Speaking of legends, there’s a legend that, once every year, a man (sometimes a giant) comes out of the Daugava river and asks if Riga is finished yet. If the answer is ‘yes’, Riga will disappear under water; if the answer is ‘no’, the man goes away for another year. Well, it’s been raining so hard the past three days, I’m starting to think someone said ‘yes’…
(Quote hastily mined before who-know-you sees it…)
Why ruin a turducken with a bunch of peas?
Next you’ll be suggesting a bovipeaturduckens, several peaturduckens stuffed inside a
cowhorse.Ah yes, there’s that drawback to wearing them as well: They get restless and tickle you.
To me, the first-approximation take-home of the “privilege” concept is that:
1) how people perceive you changes how they treat you, even if you don’t want it to.
2) how people treat you affects your perspective of what’s “normal.”
3) thus, you may not really understand or think about the way other people are treated and how it affects their experiences because you don’t experience it, and in particular because you don’t “have to” deal with certain kinds of treatment.
But I’ve been told that’s Wrong when I tried to express the same concept in different words, so who knows.
Oh, I know that one, but in my book of fairly tales it was Tallin and the devil who helped to build the town.
Giliell
Yes, I’ve heard that one, too, but obviously Latvians have the Real Version – just like Latvians invented the first Christmas Trees (not the Estonians in Tallinn, as they like to believe…). ;)
In reality, it’s an Atlantean who materializes somewhere promising and asks if there is any intelligent life on the surface. If the answer is “yes”, Atlantis will surface; if “no”, the search continues…
Oh. Also, I now own a second octopus. A green one. :)
It will join the orange one in attempting to eat the Indigestible Horse.
Yeah, it’s back to that cunning plan now that the attempt to dispose of horses by feeding them to gullible long pigs as cow has been disrupted.
Tokyo young women’s thighs used as advertising space (video).
Big pharma mobilising patients in battle over drugs trials data:
blf:
That was penturducken. No peas (unless in the stuffing (mmm. stuffing with peas (drool))).
I’d prefer an ostripenturducken. More eating for everyone.
blf
The octopoda now have to take out their own garbage?
Whilst the mildly deranged penguin will happily stuff herself with ducks, trukeys, geese, chicken, peacocks, swans, and other wannabe ex-dinosaurs, preceeded, accompanied, and followed by a selection of nice cheeses and fine vins, she does not like the ideas of skeleton removal, pea insertion, or having to fend off forks, chopsticks, knaves, and other distractions.
Let’s go whole hog and do an apatoelephostripenturduckenigeon.